THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

OR 

How  to  Make  Perfection  Appear 


BY 

KATHARINE  FRANCIS  PEDRICK 


BOSTON 

SHERMAN,  FRENCH  &  COMPANY 

1915 


Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall 
All  rights  reserved 


... 


•      GOPYHIGHT,-  1915 

Sherman,  French  &  Company 


r  - 


TO 

THOSE   WHO    BECOME   AWARE 

OF   THE    KINGDOM    OF    HEAVEN   WITHIN   THEMSELVES 

THROUGH    EFFORT 


349353 


"  The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you." 

Jesus.     Luke  17:  21. 

"  Fear  not,  little  flock;  for  it  is  your  Father's 

good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom." 

Jesus.     Luke  12:32. 

11  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see 
the  kingdom  of  God." 

Jesus.     John  3  :  3. 


PREFACE 

In  the  history  of  thought,  the  truly  religious  Mys- 
tics of  all  times  have  been  idealists,  but  of  a  distinct 
type.  It  has  been  of  interest  to  define  this  type  again, 
that  we  may  be  quite  sure  of  the  modern  mystic's 
place  in  the  spiritual  development  of  mankind.  The 
experiences  of  the  spiritually  intuitive  are  of  interest; 
but  the  laws  underlying  such  experiences  are  of  the 
utmost  moment  to  us,  and  should  be  formulated. 

Especially  at  this  time  do  these  laws  merit  our  at- 
tention, and  for  very  practical  reasons  we  are  urged 
to  their  investigation.  Indeed,  to-day  the  Christian 
Scientists  and  other  types  of  the  modern  mystic  de- 
clare that  they  are  consciously  working  in  accord- 
ance with  these  laws  and,  at  will,  are  able  to  arrive 
at  definite  spiritual  realisations  which  make  for  the 
overcoming  of  evil  and  for  the  increase  of  good. 

An  individual  expression  of  spiritual  truth  and  its 
application  is  given  in  chapters  xm  and  xiv  as 
an  aid  to  those  who  may  wish  to  avail  themselves 


PREFACE 

of  it.  This  expression  began  to  shape  itself  after 
about  eight  years  of  exclusive  devotion  to  the  study 
of  the  subject.  The  thought  gradually  assumed  the 
form  in  which  it  is  here  presented  during  seven  addi- 
tional years  in  which  it  was  being  practically  applied 
to  everyday  problems. 

For  the  mystic  to  attempt  in  detail  to  describe  his 
heavenly  vision  and  to  point  out  to  others  a  path 
leading  to  it,  is  at  once  to  become  aware  of  the  im- 
possibility of  conveying  the  pure  meaning  of  spiritual 
thought  in  terms  of  the  human  understanding.  So 
compelling,  however,  was  the  beauty  of  the  vision, 
and  so  practical  have  been  the  benefits  which  it  be- 
stowed, that  the  author  has  dared  attempt  to  mark 
out  a  way  to  the  spiritual  experiences  whence  it  is 
secured,  and  that  in  spite  of  the  inconsistencies  to 
which  verbal  language  renders  one  liable. 

It  will,  of  course,  be  obvious  that  my  purpose  has 
been,  not  to  construct  a  philosophy  upon  a  logical 
basis,  but  to  give  to  a  definite  experience  the  support 
of  philosophic  analysis,  and  thereby  disclose  the  way 
of  its  attainment.  As  an  aid  in  the  statement  of  my 
position,  I  have  occasionally  quoted  from  authors 
whose  philosophy,  as  a  whole,  differs  widely  from 
my  own.     I  have  used  the  word  mystic  in  its  true, 


PREFACE 

technical  sense,1  and  have  applied  it  to  that  con- 
sciousness which  knows  the  spiritual,  to  one  who 
knows  this  truth  through  spiritual  aspiration  and  in- 
tuition, and  who  ultimately  understands  it. 

It  is  with  much  appreciation  of  their  helpful- 
ness that  I  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  Kant, 
Critique  of  Pure  Reason;  to  Royce,  The  Spirit  of 
Modern  Philosophy;  also  to  Science  and  Health  and 
other  Christian  Science  literature. 


1  By  which  I  mean  the  sense  in  which  the  word  is  used  by  Wil- 
liam James,  The  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  Lectures  XVI 
and  XVII;  and  by  Evelyn  Underhill,  The  Mystic  Way. 


CONTENTS 

I 

INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     General  Outline 3 

II     Outline    Continued,    and    Reasons    for 

Doubt 12 

III  Spiritual   Knowledge   and   Material   Be- 

lief        27 

IV  The  Finite 32 

V    The  Mystic 47 

VI    The  Unfolding  of  the  Mystic  Conscious- 
ness        64 

II 
IDEALISM 

VII     A  General  Statement  of  Idealism      .      .     79 
VIII    Two  Types  of  Idealists 87 

III 
THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST 

IX    The  Way  of  the  Spiritual  Idealist     .     .     97 
X    Nature  of  Unreality  as  Conceived  by  the 

Spiritual  Idealist 113 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XI     The  Spiritual  Idealist's  Remedy  for  the 

Illusion  Called  Evil 118 

IV 
THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST 

XII    The  Conscious  Attainment  of  a  Larger 

Conception  of  Truth 135 

XIII  The  Practical  Application  of  Truth    .   147 

V 

CONCLUSION 

XIV  An  Individual  Expression  of  Truth     .     .157 
XV    The   Right  Answer 204 


I 

INTRODUCTION 


CHAPTER  I 
GENERAL  OUTLINE 

Many  experiences  through  which  we  pass  are  so 
dark,  their  waters  are  so  deep,  that  the  old  state- 
ments of  spiritual  truth  comfort  and  strengthen  us 
no  longer.  Such  experiences  bring  us  to  a  new  real- 
isation of  evil, —  a  realisation  of  its  asserted  power, 
of  its  presence  in  every  life,  of  the  constant  fear  and 
dread  of  it  which  has  possessed  all  of  us  in  one  form 
or  another.  And  with  this  new  and  added  realisa- 
tion of  the  nature  of  evil,  its  seeming  power  to  hurt 
and  almost  overcome  us,  our  natures  have  awakened 
from  a  sleep,  and  powers  hitherto  dormant  are  ris- 
ing up  as  though  to  save  us,  with  a  determination 
that  will  not  be  denied. 

When  thus  awakened,  one  has  a  vision  that  to  the 
questions  of  life  there  must  be  right  answers;  that 
one  can  know  these  answers,  these  truths,  and  that 
the  remedy  for  evil,  as  well  as  the  maintenance  of 
good,  lies  in  such  knowing.  Moreover,  this  newly 
awakened  self, —  born  again  and  of  the  Spirit,  catch- 

3 


4  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

ing  glimpses  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  feeling 
itself,  if  ever  so  little,  yet  akin  to  the  Divine, —  longs 
for  a  knowledge  and  a  power  which  is  commensurate 
with  the  stature  of  which  it  has  become  even  dimly 
aware.  Therefore,  not  only  would  it  overcome  for 
itself  and  others  the  recognised  evils  and  limitations 
of  the  material  mind  and  body,  but  it  would  put  off 
the  material  altogether,  and  know  itself  as  perfect 
and  spiritual,  even  unto  "  the  measure  of  the  stat- 
ure of  the  fullness  of  Christ,"  that  it  may  perform 
the  works  of  Christ  and  his  followers,  and  may  ex- 
perience his  resurrection,  his  transfiguration  and  as- 
cension, proving  itself  to  be  like  the  beloved  Son 
in  whom  God  was  well  pleased. 

When  once  this  longing  for  and  assurance  of  di- 
vine understanding  and  power  is  awakened,  it  will 
not  be  put  by.  It  demands  the  sacrifice  of  all  lesser 
claims  upon  us.  It  leads  us  out  of  conventional  high- 
ways, hammers  through  the  walls  of  old  prejudices, 
and  breaks  down  our  reliance  upon  ancient  state- 
ments of  Truth. 


w  Glad  Truth's  yet  mightier  man-child 
Leaps  beneath  the  Future's  heart."  4 


Lowell. 


GENERAL  OUTLINE  5 

And  yet  there  seems  always  to  be  building  for  our 
use  a  new  foundation  upon  which  not  only  our  future 
understanding,  but  our  early  faith,  is  quite  secure. 
The  stones  of  this  new  structure  are  the  answers 
which  come  to  us  unfailingly  in  response  to  our  ear- 
nest search  for  Truth.  Thus  a  new  birth  may  come 
to  each  one  of  us, —  a  new  ideal  of  Truth,  of  Being. 

How  many  of  us  have  ever  thought  of  Being, 
much  less  filled  it  with  any  definite  content?  But 
could  we  make  our  conception  of  Being  conform  to 
that  which  is  Being,  we  should  find  the  secret  of 
life, —  hitherto  so  elusive  that,  disheartened,  we  have 
ceased  to  look  for  its  solution,  accepting  it  as  a  mys- 
tery. 

Our  life  has  been  thought  to  be  physical  and  men- 
tal as  well  as  spiritual,  but  Being  has  been  put  into 
the  crucible  again,  and,  as  a  result  of  the  assay,  a 
new  formula  for  life  has  been  written,  in  which  the 
old  supposed  ingredients,  matter  and  mortal  sense, 
are  left  out.  The  new  formula  now  reads:  "Life 
is  perfect  consciousness,"  or,  "  Being  is  Spirit."  Be- 
ings, therefore,  are  spiritual. 

One  who  defines  Being  in  such  a  way, —  thus  hold- 
ing Spirit  to  be  all  in  all,  and  any  so-called  thing  out- 
side of  it,  as  untrue  and  therefore  as  unreal, —  must, 


6  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

of  necessity,  feel  that  the  spiritual  in  all  of  us  has 
not  only  received  but  slight  recognition,  but  has  been 
much  underestimated.  In  the  moral  life  the  spirit- 
ual has  been  given  a  place,  but  hardly  more  than  as 
an  ethical  principle.  In  the  world  of  affairs,  few 
men  are  aware  that  it  is  their  mind  of  Christ  which 
brings  them  success.  In  the  world  of  art  the  spirit- 
ual has,  perhaps,  received  even  less  recognition  as  the 
secret  of  all  creative  power,  and  scientists  must  still 
define  life  in  terms  of  what  it  does,  because  they  do 
not  know  what  it  is.  An  article  by  M.  G.  Seelig 
gives  us  a  quotation  from  Professor  Ward  which  il- 
lustrates such  a  definition.2 

The    "  additional    something "    of    the    scientist 

2 "  Between  living  and  non-living  matter  there  is  the 
fundamental  difference  that  in  living  matter  there  is  always 
something  else  present  in  addition  to  the  properties  found 
in  non-living  bodies.  This  additional  something  endows 
living  bodies  with  a  tendency  to  disturb  existing  equilibria, 
to  reverse  the  dissipative  processes  which  prevail  throughout 
the  inanimate  world,  to  store  and  build  up  where  they  are 
scattering  and  pulling  down;  the  tendency  to  conserve  in- 
dividual existence  against  antagonistic  forces,  to  grow  and 
to  progress,  not  inertly  taking  the  easier  way,  but  seem- 
ingly striving  for  the  best,  retaining  every  vantage  secured 
and  working  for  the  new  ones." — Boston  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journal,  Vol  CLXIIl,  No.  22. 


GENERAL  OUTLINE  7 

which  makes  the  difference  between  "  living  and  non- 
living bodies,"  and  which  the  vitalists  call  "  vital 
force,"  we  believe,  as  we  have  said,  to  be  a  spiritual 
force.  This  spiritual  or  life  force  is  neither  phys- 
ical, chemical,  nor  mechanical,  and  it  does  not  ap- 
pear as  such  to  those  who  truly  see  it.  It  is  not  res- 
ident in  matter.  It  is  the  manifestation  of  Spirit, 
infinite  Mind,  or  God,  and  it  has  a  spiritual  appear- 
ance of  its  own. 

If  this  conviction  be  true,  it  follows  that  one  pos- 
sesses real  life,  real  knowledge,  real  love,  the  beauti- 
ful, the  good,  only  in  so  far  as  he  is  spiritually 
minded.  Should  one  succeed,  therefore,  in  any  di- 
rection, it  is  by  virtue  of  his  mind  that  loves,  that 
knows  the  good,  the  absolute  truth.  Should  one 
fail  in  any  direction,  he  does  so  through  a  lack  of 
that  "  inward  and  spiritual  grace  "  which  underlies 
all  power. 

Whatever  the  form,  then,  of  our  failure  or  suc- 
cess, our  essential  failure  or  success  lies  in  the  realm 
of  the  spiritual,  and  whoever  wishes  to  achieve  in 
any  direction  is  consciously  or  unconsciously  seeking 
for  an  increase  in  spiritual  power. 

This  spiritual  conception  of  man's  true  being  and 
activity  is  gradually  taking  the  place  of  the  so-called 


8  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

normal,  as  conceived  by  material  thought.  And,  in 
consequence,  the  old  remedial  and  educational 
agencies  adapted  to  the  old  ideas  are  giving  way,  and 
new  ones  are  coming  to  light,  adapted  to  the  new. 
If  the  real  man  is  spiritual,  material  means, — 
neither  physical  nor  mental, —  can  help  him  in  un- 
folding and  maintaining  his  spiritual  selfhood. 

Those  who  have  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  beauty  of 
this  new  ideal  no  longer  wait  until  they  are  defective 
from  the  world's  point  of  view;  but  realising  the 
somewhat  low  standard  of  its  so-called  normal, — 
at  any  point  hardly  above  the  material, —  they  reach 
out,  before  they  are  sick,  for  the  substance  which  is 
always  well ;  seek,  before  they  are  ugly  and  deformed, 
for  that  beauty  which  will  not  fade ;  and  strive  for  a 
realisation  of  the  sinless  self  before  they  fall.  Their 
love  for  others  also  expresses  itself  in  new  ideals  of 
service  and  in  new  forms  of  charity,  based  upon  rais- 
ing those  who  are  u  normal  "  above  the  accepted 
standards.3 

8  Many  mothers  and  fathers  no  longer  feel  that  a  young 
girl  just  out  of  college  must  needs  dip  down  among  the 
more  degraded  and  unfortunate  in  order  to  render  social 
service.  Work  among  the  so-called  normal  offers  ample 
opportunity  for  all  our  youth  to  serve,  and,  moreover,  in 
ways  and  under  conditions  where  they  run  no  danger  of 


GENERAL  OUTLINE  9 

No  one  should  be  satisfied  until  he  can  express  him- 
self in  some  form  of  art,  and  yet  friends  who  are  al- 
ready well  and  prosperous  look  indifferent  as  well 
as  incredulous  if  one  hints  of  their  obligation  to  study 
the  spiritual  laws  of  thought  in  order  to  sing  or  paint. 
And  those  who  have  already  attained  to  the  level 
of  expressing  themselves  in  beautiful  forms  should 
study  the  higher  laws  that  through  their  conscious 
operation  they  may  achieve  even  greater  things  than 
before  were  possible  to  them. 

God,  the  Father,  our  teacher,  is  giving  us,  His 
pupils,  questions,  to  which  he  demands  correct, — 
that  is,  spiritual, —  answers.  Every  act  of  our  lives 
is  the  answer  we  give  Him  to  one  of  His  questions, 
and  these  answers  make  up  the  whole  of  the  life  of 
each  one  of  us:  poor  (material)  answers,  poor  lives; 

arresting  their  own  development.  There  is  such  danger 
in  surroundings  which  present  problems  too  difficult  for 
them  to  solve,  and  thus  tend  to  make  them  either  superficial 
or  morbid.  If  our  young  people  will  work  among  our 
children,  using  all  the  forms  of  art  to  unfold  their  natures 
upon  spiritual  levels  and  keep  them  there,  such  efforts  will 
reveal  in  the  children  hidden  spiritual  treasures  which  in 
later  years  will  assert  themselves  and  help  to  lift  the  ma- 
terial "  yoke  "  and  lighten  the  burden  of  "  earthly  freight " 
which  inevitably  awaits  men  in  a  seemingly  material  environ- 
ment like  ours. 


io  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

right  (spiritual)  answers,  rich  lives.  Many  of  us 
barely  pass  our  examinations  and  so  just  get  into 
life,  and  all  through  the  course  we  fail  and  fail. 

Why  do  others  get  through  with  honours?  Right 
answers,  or  wrong  ones  quickly  corrected,  tell  the 
story.  Spiritual  insight  gives  us  right  (spiritual) 
answers,  with  their  happy,  successful  lives.  For 
this  reason,  training  to  enter  more  consciously  and 
more  fully  into  spiritual  states  of  mind  must  be  un- 
dertaken by  all,  and  most  of  all  by  those  who,  by 
their  constitution,  seem  to  be  incapable  of  experienc- 
ing them.  Such  training  brings  into  service  an 
hitherto  unused  thought  plant.  Our  mental  output 
has  not  stood  the  test;  its  quality  has  been  inferior 
and  could  not  compete,  perchance,  with  that  of  others. 
It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  improve  our  mental 
equipment  and  raise  our  standard  to  the  plane  of  the 
spiritual  in  order  to  meet  the  daily  demands  upon 
us  for  more  satisfactory  results. 

If  another  man's  answers  to  life's  questions  be  of 
such  quality  as  to  graduate  him  with  honours,  while 
our  thoughts  or  answers,  like  base  coin,  can  be  ex- 
changed for  little  in  God's  kingdom,  let  us  see  quickly 
that  the  fault  lies  within  us.  We  can  make  our  own 
thought  product  such  as  to  compete  with  the  best; 


GENERAL  OUTLINE  n 

but  to  do  so  we  must  cultivate  a  thought  territory 
which  is  going  to  waste  in  us.  It  is  the  mystic's 
spiritual  territory  which  we  must  reclaim.  Its  fal- 
low tracts,  full  of  promise  of  great  yields,  lie  in  every 
man's  mind.  The  richness  stored  away  in  them  may 
be  made  available  through  use, —  spiritual  use.  We 
will  plant  the  right  thought  seeds  there,  for  only 
spiritual  seeds  will  grow  in  this  hitherto  unused  soil 
of  our  minds.  We  will  bring  the  freedom  of  toler- 
ance, the  stimulus  of  sympathy,  the  great  nursing 
agencies  of  love,  to  the  seeds  down  there  in  the  dark. 
We  will  brood  over  this  long  neglected  garden,  pro- 
tect it  from  ridicule,  and  be  patient  with  its  unpromis- 
ing first  appearances;  so  shall  we  reap  its  spiritual 
harvest  for  ourselves  and  for  others,  a  harvest  that 
will  supply  our  daily  bread.  Moreover,  we  need  no 
longer  be  forced  by  suffering,  but  may,  if  we  choose, 
by  seeking,  enter  at  will  into  these  truth-revealing 
states  of  mind,  for  the  technique  by  which  we  arrive 
at  such  states  is  being  made  clear.4 

4  By  technique  we  mean  a  specific  kind  of  right  thinking. 


CHAPTER  II 

OUTLINE  CONTINUED,  AND  REASONS 
FOR  DOUBT 

What  are  the  experiences  which  are  strong  enough 
to  drive  us  to  this  belief  in  the  spiritual  as  the  only 
real,  as  the  only  right  answer  to  all  questions ;  trans- 
cending, as  it  does,  the  material,  visible,  and  so-called 
substantial  order  of  things? 

There  are  petty  tyrannies  that  bind  us.  There  are 
aimless  moments  when  we  cease  to  know  our  way  and 
cease  to  care.  How  and  why  the  vision  fades  1  we 
do  not  know,  nor  how  to  bring  it  back,  but  are  only 

1  "  There  was  a  time  when  meadow,  grove,  and  stream, 
The  earth,  and  every  common  sight, 
To  me  did  seem 
Apparell'd  in  celestial  light, 
The  glory  and  the  freshness  of  a  dream. 
It  is  not  now  as  it  hath  been  of  yore ;  — 
Turn  wheresoe'er  I  may, 
By  night  or  day, 
The  things  I  have  seen  I  now  can  see  no  more. 


12 


REASONS  FOR  DOUBT  13 

aware  of  the  utter  weariness  and  fruitlessness  of  ex- 
istence.2 Sometimes  care  may  come  too  early  in  life, 
leaving  no  room  for  childhood's  flowers,  the  natural 

Whither  is  fled   the  visionary   gleam? 
Where  is  it  now,  the  glory  and  the  dream? 

Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy! 
Shades  of  the  prison-house  begin  to  close 

Upon  the  growing  Boy; 
But  he  beholds  the  light,  and  whence  it  flows, 

He  sees  it  in  his  joy; 
The  Youth,  who  daily  farther  from  the  east 
Must  travel,  still  is  Nature's  priest, 
And  by  the  vision  splendid 
Is  on  his  way  attended; 
At  length  the  man  perceives  it  die  away, 
And  fade  into  the  light  of  common  day." 

Wordsworth:     Ode  on  Immortality. 

2  "  Why  did  they  kill  themselves?"  Una  asked,  her  chin 
in  her  hand.  "  Because  they  were  heathen.  When  they 
grew  tired  of  life  (as  if  they  were  the  only  people)  they 
would  jump  into  the  sea.  They  called  it  '  going  to  Wotan.' 
It  wasn't  want  of  food  always,  by  any  means.  A  man 
would  tell  you  he  felt  grey  in  his  heart,  or  a  woman  would 
say  that  she  saw  nothing  but  long  days  in  front  of  her;  and 
they'd  saunter  away  to  the  mud-flats  and  —  that  would  be 
the  end  of  them,  poor  souls,  unless  one  headed  them  off." — 
Kipling:  Conversion  of  St.  Wilfrid;  Rewards  and 
Fairies. 


i4  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

fruits  of  which  are  joy  and  hope.  Without  knowing 
why,  there  are  many  of  us  who  never  feel  at  home, 
—  the  bitter  fruit,  perhaps,  of  our  transplanted  na- 
tion, in  a  country  where  families  are  frequently  made 
up  of  uncongenial  members,  springing,  as  they  do, 
from  different  races  and  cherishing  ideals  rooted  in 
many  and  alien  lands.  During  the  travail  of  its 
birth  our  nation  amalgated  these  differences  in  race 
and  ideal,  and  dominated  by  the  common  passion  for 
freedom,  felt  itself  a  unit;  but  in  its  secure  maturity 
subordinated  traits  and  desires  come  to  light,  and  we 
hunger  for  an  earlier  people,  an  earlier  home.3'  4 

There  are  the  unconscious  defects  in  us  all,  mak- 
ing us  fail  those  who  love  and  trust  us, —  the  pride 
and  obstinacy  or  mere  lack  of  humour  whereby  we 

8  "  L'ame  garde  les  char  act  eristiques  de  sa  race,  le  cceur 
reste  de  son  pays,  de  son  clock er  meme." 

*  Many  of  us  can  recall  a  member  of  his  family  who 
kept  himself  aloof,  whom  even  his  parents  failed  to  under- 
stand. In  one  family,  a  far  away  Scotch  ancestor  appeared 
in  such  a  boy.  He  might  have  been  sent  abroad  to  school; 
but  no  one  realised  how  Scotch  he  was  until  it  was  too 
late.  What  had  a  New  England  city  full  of  material  pros- 
perity to  offer  to  him,  who  all  unconsciously  was  dreaming 
of  Scottish  lake  and  hill,  seeing  their  purple  bloom,  feeling 
the  mystery  of  their  dark  places,  listening  to  the  call  of 
romance  and  story,  of  Benledi  and  Roderick  Dhu! 


REASONS  FOR  DOUBT  15 

miss  the  rare  nearness  reserved  for  those  who  love; 
and  that  dark,  dissatisfied  spirit  lurking  about,  mak- 
ing us  never  happy  in  ourselves,  jealous  of  the  hap- 
piness of  others.  There  are  the  patient  hopes  that 
never  are  fulfilled,  dull  resignation  to  a  bare  exist- 
ence, love  grown  cold  in  middle  age,  friends  es- 
tranged, and  the  loneliness  of  old  age.  There  are 
the  musicians  whose  songs  will  not  finish  themselves,5 
and  those  artists  whose  colour  eludes  them  at  times, 
and  whose  dreams  will  not  come.6 

If  to  these  less  obvious  and  perhaps  minor  ills  of 
life  one  adds  poverty  and  its  benumbing  effects,  actual 
sin,  pain,  sickness,  and  death,  with  the  darkness,  grief, 
and  suspense  attending  them,  what  further  spur  is 
needed  to  make  one  long  to  break  through  and  reach 
beyond  this  so-called  order  of  things,  and  see  if  there 
may  not  be  an  interpretation  of  evil  and  a  truth  con- 

8  Wolf's  life  illustrates  this:  —  the  times  of  inactivity 
when  he  feels  himself  as  dead,  followed  by  phenomenal  crea- 
tive periods,  then  further  lack  of  inspiration,  finally  ending 
in  insanity." —  Romain  Rolland,  Musicians  of  Today. 

6  "  In  a  fortnight  I  have  had  more  phantasies  than  in  four 
months  before."  While  the  mood  was  on  him  he  gave  it 
full  sway,  but  presently  he  said,  "  Now  I  am  stuck  fast 
again,  and  no  dreams  come." — Memorials  of  Edward  Burne- 
Jones. 


1 6  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

cerning  good  whose  significance  he  has  failed  to  dis- 
cern, or,  discerning,  to  realise? 

Whoever  begins  to  rebel  against  the  "  actual," 
often  with  his  heart  first,  and  afterwards  consciously 
with  his  reason,  will  rarely  cease  in  his  rebellion  until 
he  reaches  that  point  where  he  doubts  the  reality 
of  the  whole  natural  order.  He  will  then  question 
the  right  of  the  intellect 7  to  explain  the  universe 
from  a  purely  physical  standpoint,  thus  trying  to  re- 
duce to  nothing  that  which  it  cannot  weigh  and  meas- 
ure. 

He  will  go  further,  and  in  spite  of  the  enforced 
limitation  of  his  intellect, —  which  prevents  it  from 
testifying  to  a  world  in  which  it  is  superfluous, —  he 
will  not  be  deterred,  when  he  once  is  awake,  from 
making  excursions  into  that  same  world  and  so  re- 
assuring himself  daily  of  the  presumption  of  a  phys- 
ical standpoint  which  takes  corporeal  objects  and 
physical  forces  for  the  only  realities. 

When  one  thus  begins  to  wonder  about,  and  then 
to  challenge,  the  old,  material  ways  of  thinking,  he 

7  The  word  "  intellect "  is  used  throughout  the  book  to 
signify  that  which  seemingly  presents  the  material  world 
to  us. 

See  Kant's  Empirical  Ego. 


REASONS  FOR  DOUBT  17 

is  shaking  off  a  mental  chrysalis,  and  unfolding  pow- 
ers for  knowing  which  he  has  hitherto  used  but  little, 
and  of  which  he  has  been  comparatively  unaware. 
He  then  has  a  great  joy  in  store  for  him,  a  large 
field  of  undreamed  of  knowledge,  a  new  companion- 
ship. In  the  beginning,  he  enters  into  unseeing  com- 
munion with  the  geniuses  of  the  Spirit;  in  the  end, 
he  arrives  at  that  Paradise  where  all  eyes  are  opened 
to  the  same  vision.  He  rejoices,  and  feels  himself 
no  longer  alone  as  he  reads  his  own  thoughts  in  the 
illuminating  words  of  others.8 

Henceforward  the  searcher  stands  for  "  the  in- 

8  "  The  unsatisfactory  nature  of  the  present  world,  the 
conflict  of  the  natural  order  of  events  with  the  irrelinquish- 
able  demands  of  the  Spirit,  is  the  strongest  motive  to 
transcend  the  visible  order  and  seek  an  invisible  one.  The 
fact  that  in  the  natural  course  of  events,  as  observation  shows, 
the  good  and  great  are  often  oppressed  and  perish,  while 
the  vulgar  and  the  wicked  triumph,  is  the  goad  that  drives 
us  to  deny  the  absolute  reality  of  nature.  It  is  and  remains 
the  final  and  indestructible  axiom  of  the  will  that  reality 
cannot  be  indifferent  to  good  and  evil.  If,  then,  nature 
is  indifferent,  it  cannot  be  the  true  reality.  Then  only 
behind  and  above  nature,  as  mere  phenomenon,  can  the 
true  world  be  discovered,  and  in  it  the  good  is  absolutely 
real,  i.e.,  in  God,  who  is  the  absolutely  real  and  the  ab- 
solutely good." —  Paulsen  :  Immanuel  Kant,  His  Life  and 
Doctrine,  page  318. 


1 8  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

adequacy  of  common  knowledge  to  attain  the  idea  of 
true  knowledge,"  and  for  the  truth  of  the  old  idea 
that  the  senses  deceive  us.  Henceforward,  for  him, 
the  intellect  or  the  knowing  power  of  the  natural 
man,  which  testifies  to  the  reality  of  the  world  of 
the  flesh,  does  not  tell  the  truth.  And  he  believes 
that  God  "  forged  that  other  influence,  that  heat  of 
inward  evidence,  by  which  one  doubts  against  the 
sense,"  and  knows  the  Truth. 

It  is  with  a  feeling  of  new  birth  that  we  realise 
the  truth  of  a  vital  idea.  We  see  a  new  heaven  and 
a  new  earth;  unto  us  a  Son  is  born;  and  a  pent  up 
joy  overflows  the  waste  places  and  fills  the  bare  in- 
lets of  our  hearts.  The  dark  is  drowned  in  a  golden 
flood  of  light,  while  a  glad  song  mingles  with  the  in- 
flowing tide.  This  true  idea  seems  new,  and  like  a 
clear  flame  it  bursts  from  the  smouldering  fires  deep 
down  in  us,  and  holds  itself  free  and  triumphant 
above  the  embers  of  our  past. 

Such  a  vital  idea  is  born  in  us  when  we  realise  that 
the  intellect  is  not  the  only  knowing  power,  but  is,  at 
best,  only  one  side  of  that  apparent  mental  duality 
which  may  seem  to  present  itself  wherever  a  mind 
appears. 


REASONS  FOR  DOUBT  19 

One  side  of  this  seeming  duality  consists  of  that 
consciousness  which  may  be  called  the  mortal  sense, 
—  or,  philosophically,  the  empirical  ego, —  whose 
knowing  power  is  called  the  intellect.  It  involves 
material  bodies  and  all  material  conditions  which 
to  the  higher  mind  appear  as  limitation,  poverty, 
sickness,  sorrow,  and  sin.  These  are  but  the  ap- 
pearances of  the  mortal  sense  belief  in  matter  as 
substance,  in  law  as  physical,  and  in  itself  as  truth- 
knowing.  It  has  no  idea  of  God  as  Spirit,  or  of 
law  as  moral.  Discontent,  irritability,  fault  find- 
ing, unhappiness,  pain,  sickness,  and  death  are  typi- 
cal signs  of  the  seeming  activity  of  the  finite,  so- 
called  "mind." 

The  other  side  of  this  mental  dualism  consists  of 
that  consciousness  which  we  will  characterise  as  the 
immortal  mind  or  the  spiritual  ego,  the  essence  and 
nature  of  which  is  to  be  conscious  of,  and  to  ex- 
press, Truth  and  Love.  To  it  substance  is  Love 
(Spirit),  and  law  is  spiritual.  It  knows  only  the 
truth.  It  knows  itself  to  be  perfect,  one  with  the 
Father  or  Spirit.  It,  too,  has  an  appearance,  vis- 
ible to  the  pure  in  heart;  but  since  a  belief  in  the 
physical  universe  is  not  a  part  of  this  consciousness, 


20  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

its  appearance  is  never  material,  and  therefore  is 
forever  invisible  to  the  carnal  mind.  This  spiritual 
knowing  power  is  always  active,  and  we  are  con- 
scious of  this  activity  when  we  are  happy,  well,  and 
efficient. 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  there  appear  to  be  not 
only  two  knowing  powers, —  one  the  mortal  and  the 
other  the  divine, —  but  that  what  is  true  to  the  one 
cannot  be  known  to  the  other.  In  the  words  of 
Paul,  "  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  foolishness  unto 
him;  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are 
spiritually  discerned"  (I  Corinthians  2:  14). 

If  by  any  unhappy  chance  we  should  become  so 
asleep  to  the  truth  that  we  should  fail  to  realise  this 
antagonism,  this  house  divided  against  itself;  and 
should  also  cease  to  see  that  the  material  order  as 
a  whole  is  antagonistic  to  the  divine, —  men  and 
women  would  cease  to  be  discriminating  in  their 
morals,  and  would  submit  with  a  so-called  Christian 
spirit  to  physical  inability,  poverty,  chance,  and  sor- 
row. If  this  gulf  between  the  two  opposing  parts 
of  our  nature  and  of  the  world  in  general  should 
seem  to  be  obliterated,  and  their  apparent  fusion 
should  be  so  complete  that  no  seam  could  be  found, 


REASONS  FOR  DOUBT  21 

—  the  "  false  and  true  meeting  with  a  kiss  across 
the  bound-mark  where  their  realms  confine," —  men 
and  women  would  foster  and  cherish  the  so-called 
normal  appetites  and  desires  of  the  flesh.  They 
would  look  indulgently  upon  their  excesses,  consid- 
ering them  different  not  in  kind,  but  only  in  degree, 
from  that  which  is  popularly  deemed  their  "  per- 
fectly natural  and  therefore  right "  satisfaction. 
From  the  standpoint  of  a  higher  mind,  the  devil 
would  then  be  included  in  the  angelic  circle.  And 
this  is  just  what  is  happening;  for  now  the  brain 
of  man  "  claims  equal  suffrage  "  with  Spirit,  and 
while,  theoretically,  the  existence  of  the  two  sides 
of  a  man  is  to-day  popularly  recognised,  yet,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  many  of  us  do  not  classify  the  ma- 
terial as  apart  from  and  antagonistic  to  the  Spirit- 
ual. 

In  allowing  our  vision  thus  to  become  blurred  we 
should  seem  to  have  mislaid  the  key  to  the  solution 
of  our  problems,  for  to  become  unconscious  of  the 
distinction  between  the  divine  origin  of  good 
thoughts  and  the  alien  origin  of  evil  thoughts  is  ap- 
parently to  cease  to  distinguish  between  the  claims  of 
our  various  thoughts  to  validity  and  authority.  And 
since  an  inquiry  into  the  pedigree  of  a  thought  no 


22  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

longer  saves  us  from  evil,9 —  it  having  been  crowded 
into  our  conception  of  God's  universe, —  sins  are  ap- 
parently innocently  committed;  children  are  brought 
into  the  world  thoughtlessly;  the  good  of  those 
whom  we  ought  to  love  is  sacrificed  for  those  whom 
we  happen  to  love;  immorality  is  applauded  in  the 
name  of  art:  and  all  this  with  a  plea  as  pure  as 
snow, —  God  made  the  natural,  the  material.  Each 
of  us  to-day,  in  some  form,  is  presented  with  the  idea 
that  he  ought  to  obey  that  which  is  material,  and 
therefore  immoral,  on  the  ground  that  God  made  it. 
In  spite  of  our  theories,  however,  we  have  never 
fought  evil  more  industriously  than  now.  Yet  upon 
what  grounds  can  we  consistently  fight,  while  main- 
taining that  the  lower  side  of  our  nature  and  the 
finite  side  of  things  in  general  is  of  divine  origin? 
In  declaring  the  natural  and  spiritual  to  be  of  equal 
birth,  and  therefore  of  equal  rank  and  having  equal 
rights,  do  we  not,  in  reason,  cut  ourselves  off  from 
any  rational  basis  for  successful  resistance? 

9  Margaret's  plea: 

"  I  myself  am  guilty  of  sin, 

But  all  that  drove  my  heart  thereto 

Was  oh,  so  good,  oh,  so  dear." 

Goethe:     Faust. 


REASONS  FOR  DOUBT  23 

If  the  "  spiritual  spins  the  natural  as  the  spider 
his  web,"  death,  the  last  enemy,  will  never  be  over- 
come, to  say  nothing  of  lesser  ones.  If  spirit  is  the 
u  principle  of  our  involuntary  movements,  of  our 
involuntary  nutritive  functions  upon  which  the 
nourishment,  growth,  and  origin,  and  consequently 
the  whole  existence,  of  the  material  body  depends," 
we  have  no  source  from  which  to  derive  the  weapons 
with  which  to  fight  the  evils  of  body  and  mind.  We 
have  no  appeal  if,  in  this  realm  in  which  we  live, 
a  "  rigid  order  of  nature  is  one  with  the  most  miracu- 
lously divine  truth " ;  and  although  u  man  has 
sprung  from  an  animal  ancestry,"  yet  is  he  u  the  em- 
bodiment, the  organ,  of  the  absolute  reason."  If 
the  material  is  God  made,  and  therefore  it  is  true 
that  man  has  a  physical,  structural  body,  and  is  sub- 
ject to  it  and  to  physical  law, —  then  man  must  have 
pain,  be  sick,  and  die;  and  having  a  physical  brain 
upon  which  his  thoughts  are  conditioned,  he  will  in- 
evitably be  liable  to  pettiness,  ignorance,  wickedness, 
and  even  insanity.  If  nature  is  lying  in  wait  for 
man,  seeking  whom  she  "  may  devour  "  with  vari- 
ous evil  forces,  he  cannot  fight  against  such  odds 
with  any  assurance  of  success.  In  a  word,  if  the 
universe  is  as  it  appears  to  be  to  finite  sense,  there 


24  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

will  never  be  a  time  when  "  God  shall  wipe  away 
all  tears,"  never  an  age  when  "  there  shall  be  no 
more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying." 

Such  a  creed  would  take  away  our  heavenly 
Father,  and  make  us  bow  our  helpless  heads  and  say, 
u  Thy  will  in  heaven  is,  as  it  is  done  on  earth."  10 
But  on  the  other  hand,  if  we  could  but  believe  that, 
though  seemingly  blended,  the  evil  is  all  in  one  cir- 
cle, the  material;  and  the  good  is  all  in  another  cir- 
cle, the  spiritual;  and  could  but  feel  that  because  of 
their  complete  antagonism  the  two  circles  cannot 
overlap, —  unity  between  God  and  the  Devil  being 
impossible, —  we  should  have  prepared  the  way  for 
the  solution  of  our  problems. 

Any  faith  to-day  which  involves  a  realisation  of  the 
feud  that  has  always  existed  between  flesh  and  blood 
on  one  side  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  the 
other  n  is  in  advance  of  those  beliefs  in  which  soul 

10  It  may  be  argued  that  the  so-called  good  of  the  material 
universe  is  ours,  God-given  and  made,  but  not  the  evil;  but 
since  evil  is  irrevocably  involved  in  the  material,  if  God  is  in 
league  with  the  material  order  at  all,  he  is  in  league  with 
evil,  and  it  belongs  to  the  divine  order.  If  the  material 
universe  originates  in  Him,  evil  originates  in  Him. 

11  Understanding  will  ultimately  teach  us  to  go  farther 
than  this  mere  separation  of  the  material  from  the  spiritual. 


REASONS  FOR  DOUBT  25 

has  not  only  ceased  to  revolt  at  flesh,  but  where  even 
a  reconciliation  between  them  has  seemed  to  take 
place.12 

Therefore  to  such  questions  as:  "Does  God 
give  spiritual  beings  material  minds  and  bodies,  and 
does  He  surround  them  with  material  conditions, 
upon  which  their  life  is  dependent?"  we  must  an- 
swer: The  material  and  the  spTritual  are  opposites 
and  are,  therefore,  mutually  exclusive.  Spirit  and 
the  spiritual  do  not  know  the  material. 

In  order  to  see  this,  one  must  "  undo  the  imper- 
fection of  his  eyes";  but  how?  The  power  is 
within  us.  If  we  use  it,  it  will  bring  us  to  our  land 
of  vision,  the  land  of  St.  John.  Through  it  we  may 
look  behind  this  mortal  show, —  through  this  life's 
evil,  made  of  the  stuff  that  dreams  are  made  of, — 
and  see  the  glory  of  the  Real,  which  brighter  and 
brighter  grows  until  the  evil  fantasies  which  danced 

12  "  Let  us  not  always  say, 
1  Spite  of  this  flesh  to-day 
I  strove,  made  head,'  .  .  . 

Let  us  cry,  '  All  good  things 
Are  ours;  nor  soul  helps  flesh  more,  now, 
than  flesh  helps  soul.'  " 

Robert   Browning, 


26  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

before  us  disappear,  and  we  are  blind  to  all  but 
good.  A  cloister  of  glorious  light  is  ours;  we  now 
know  from  whence  it  flows,  and  "  the  vision  splen- 
did," "  the  glory  and  the  dream,"  are  ours  at  will. 


CHAPTER  III 

SPIRITUAL  KNOWLEDGE  AND 
MATERIAL  BELIEF 

In  the  foregoing  introductory  survey,  which  it  is 
now  desirable  for  us  to  work  out  somewhat  more  in 
detail,  we  have  given  a  definition  of  Being  that  we 
believe  involves  the  right  answer  to  all  life's  ques- 
tions, viz:  Spirit  and  Spirit's  activity  constitute  all 
Being.  This  definition  in  itself  implies  that  we  dis- 
criminate against  any  opposing  form  of  mind  as  be- 
ing untrue,  and  therefore,  as  involving  the  wrong 
answers  to  the  questions  of  life.  Upon  what  basis 
one  may  feel  justified  in  classifying  a  certain  so- 
called  mind  and  its  mental  states  under  the  head  of 
Untruth,  will  be  shown  further  on.  At  present  it 
is  only  necessary  for  us  to  be  clear  as  to  what  power 
for  knowing  we  have,  and  what  power  we  seem  to 
have;  and  as  to  the  kinds  of  facts  which  each  gives 
us;  so  that  when  we  discriminate  against  one  form 
and  in  favor  of  another,  it  will  be  quite  clear  as  to 
just  what  our  discrimination  implies. 

27 


28  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

There  are  apparently  two  forms  of  knowing  by 
which  we  may  learn  about  any  given  thing.  One  of 
these  forms  is  divine  or  spiritual,1  and  the  other  is 
finite.2  Both  forms  base  their  knowledge  upon  ex- 
perience. The  finite,  mortal  form  of  belief  is  based 
upon  the  experiences  gained  through  physical  sense 
data  and  is  testified  to  by  the  mortal  or  material  con- 
sciousness; whereas  the  spiritual  knowing,  according 
to  our  interpretation,  is  based  upon  the  experiences 
gained  quite  apart  from  sense  data,  and  is  testified 
to  by  the  divine  or  spiritual  consciousness,  some- 
times called  the  u  highest  mystical  consciousness." 

From  this  difference  in  standpoint  it  follows  that 
two  answers  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  any  given 
thing  will  inevitably  be  given:  the  one,  by  material 
sense,  being  finite  and  physical  according  to  its  na- 
ture; the  other,  by  divine  consciousness,  being  in- 
finite and  spiritual  according  to  its  nature.  These 
two  answers,  as  will  appear  more  clearly  in  our  sub- 
sequent discussion,  will  not  only  be  different,  but 
they  will  be  antagonistic  to  one  another.  For  in- 
stance, should  it  be  asked  of  what  are  we  made,  the 

1  Corinthians  2:  11,  12,  16.  Also  Kant:  Intuitive  Un- 
derstanding. 

2  Kant:     Empirical  Ego  or  Common   Understanding. 


SPIRITUAL  AND  MATERIAL         29 

divine  knowing  power3  must  answer:  "The  chil- 
dren of  Spirit  are  spiritual;"  while  the  finite  so- 
called  power  4  will  say:  "  Of  matter,  governed  by 
physical  law."  "  To  all  questions,  the  modern,  em- 
pirical, finite  consciousness  answers  with  a  system  of 
physics  which  embraces  all  sciences,  whether  they 
have  their  sources  in  outer  or  inner  experiences."  5 

3  Corinthians  2 :  II,  12,  16.  Also  Kant:  Intuitive  Un- 
derstanding. 

4  Kant:     Empirical  Ego  or  Common  Understanding. 

B "  All  that  we  know  (says  this  finite  consciousness) 
through  outer  experience  is  body, —  that  is,  matter  in  space 
and  time.  The  relations  of  time  and  space  are  investigated 
by  mathematics,  whilst  the  pursuit  of  matter  in  its  trans- 
formations is  the  object  of  the  natural  sciences  which  as 
morphology  (mineralogy,  botany,  zoology)  deal  with  the 
forms  of  matter;  as  aetiology  (physics,  chemistry,  physiology) 
with  its  changes  and  their  causes. 

"  These  states  and  changes  of  matter  in  space  and  time, 
linked  together  by  the  chain  of  causality,  are  called  phe- 
nomena. These  phenomena  are  manifestations  of  an  inner 
unity  termed  force,  natural  force,  instances  of  which  are 
gravity,  impenetrability,  electricity,  crystallisation,  etc. 
Every  state  in  nature  is  a  tension  of  conflicting  forces  — 
instances:  a  building,  a  chemical  union,  the  human  body 
in  the  states  of  health,  disease,  and  death.  .  .  . 

"  The  science  of  inner  experience,  according  to  the  physi- 
cal standpoint,  is  psychology  (in  the  empirical  sense),  as  it 
has  for  its  subject  the  entire  phenomena  of  inner  perception, 


30  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

Shall  we  accept  a  finite  answer  to  our  questions? 

In  asking  this,  we  are  again  reminded  that  the 
interest  of  our  discussion  centres  in  the  fact  that  life 
is  a  compulsory  asking  of  questions  and  a  finding  of 
true  answers.  Life  eternal  is  a  knowing  of  the 
Truth;  and  therefore,  whether  we  will  or  no,  if  we 
live,  in  any  real  sense  of  the  word,  we  are  forced 
to  ask  questions  and  find  true  answers  as  to  the  na- 
ture of  things.     Upon  all  men,   therefore,   sooner 

and  accordingly  embraces  the  whole  domain  of  (empirical) 
knowing,  feeling,  willing." — Deussen:  Elements  of 
Metaphysics,  pages  2,  12,  13. 

The  finite  consciousness  may  tell  us  that  this  world  of 
phenomena  (that  is,  states  and  changes  of  matter)  is  an 
outer  world,  but  one  which  can  be  known  to  us  because  it 
is  something  that  acts  as  an  excitant  upon  our  sense  organs, 
and  thereby  produces  physical  sensations  by  means  of  which 
we  may  interpret  the  world  without.  On  the  other  hand, 
this  finite  consciousness  may  tell  us  that  this  so-called  physi- 
cal world  is  only  an  appearance  of  something,  and  that 
something  is  its  own  mentality.  But  whether  the  material 
universe  is  the  sum  of  something  without  our  finite  minds 
plus  these  minds,  or  whether  it  is  just  the  way  that  our  men- 
tal processes  look  to  our  finite  minds,  does  not  change  the 
fact  that  the  universe  seems  finite  to  a  finite  sense,  and  a 
finite  answer  is  sure  to  be  given  by  a  finite  sense  to  any 
question  whatsoever. 


SPIRITUAL  AND  MATERIAL         31 

or  later  will  be   forced  this  question  now  before 
us:  — 

Shall  we  accept  as  true  any  finite  statement?  A 
study  of  the  character  of  the  finite  will  help  us  in 
making  our  decision. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  FINITE 

The  study  of  the  character  of  the  finite  reveals 
that  which  at  least  justifies  us  in  believing  that  we 
shall  find  sufficient  reason,  before  we  have  finished, 
for  proving  our  discrimination  against  the  truth  of 
the  material  to  be  inevitable.  Concerning  this  sub- 
ject we  can  do  no  better  than  to  quote  the  vivid  de- 
scriptions of  those  thinkers  to  whom  the  finite  has 
appeared  in  its  real  light. 

1  "  There  are  few  sights  in  Nature  more  restful 
to  the  soul  than  a  daisied  field  in  June.  Whether  it 
be  at  the  dewy  hour  of  sunrise,  with  blithe  matin 
songs  still  echoing  among  the  treetops,  or  while  the 
luxuriant  splendour  of  noontide  fills  the  delicate 
tints  of  the  early  foliage  with  a  pure  glory  of  light, 
or  in  that  more  pensive  time  when  long  shadows 
are  thrown  eastward,  and  the  fresh  breath  of  the 
sea  is  felt,  or  even  under  the  solemn  mantle  of  dark- 
ness, when  all  forms  have  faded  from  sight,  and 

1  Fiske  :     Through  Nature  to  God,  page  59. 

32 


THE  FINITE  33 

the  night  air  is  musical  with  the  murmurs  of  in- 
numerable insects, —  amid  all  the  varying  moods 
through  which  the  daily  cycle  runs,  the  abiding 
sense  is  of  unalloyed  happiness,  the  profound  tran- 
quillity of  mind  and  heart  that  nothing  ever  brings 
save  the  contemplation  of  perfect  beauty.  One's 
thought  is  carried  back  for  the  moment  to  that  morn- 
ing of  the  world  when  God  looked  upon  His  work 
and  saw  that  it  was  good.  If  in  the  infinite  and 
eternal  Creative  Energy  one  might  imagine  some 
inherent  impulse  perpetually  urging  toward  fresh 
creation,  what  could  it  be  more  likely  to  be  than  the 
divine  contentment  in  giving  objective  existence  to 
the  boundless  and  subtle  harmonies  whereof  our 
world  is  made?  That  it  is  a  world  of  perfect  har- 
mony and  unsullied  beauty,  who  can  doubt  as  he 
strolls  through  this  summer  field?  As  our  thought 
plays  lightly  with  its  sights  and  sounds,  there  is 
nothing  but  gladness  in  the  laugh  of  the  bobolink; 
the  thrush's  tender  note  tells  only  of  the  sweet 
domestic  companionship  of  the  nest;  creeping  and 
winged  things  emerging  from  their  grubs  fill  us  with 
the  sense  of  abounding  life;  and  the  myriad  butter- 
cups, hallowed  with  vague  memories  of  June  days 
in  childhood,  lose  none  of  their  charm  in  reminding 


34  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

us  of  the  profound  sympathy  and  mutual  depend- 
ence in  which  the  worlds  of  flowers  and  insects  have 
grown  up.  The  blades  of  waving  grass,  the  flut- 
tering leaves  upon  the  lilac  bush,  appeal  to  us  with 
rare  fascination;  for  the  green  stuff  that  fills  their 
cellular  tissues,  and  the  tissues  of  all  green  things 
that  grow,  is  the  world's  great  inimitable  worker  of 
wonders;  its  marvellous  alchemy  takes  dead  matter 
and  breathes  into  it  the  breath  of  life.  But  for 
that  magician,  chlorophyl,  conjuring  with  sunbeams, 
such  things  as"  animal  life  and  conscious  intelligence 
would  be  impossible;  there  would  be  no  problems  of 
creation,  nor  philosopher  to  speculate  upon  them. 
Thus  the  delight  that  sense  impression  gives  as  we 
wander  among  buttercups  and  daisies,  becomes  deep- 
ened into  gratitude  and  veneration  till  we  quite  un- 
derstand how  the  rejuvenescence  of  Nature  should 
in  all  ages  have  aroused  men  to  acts  of  worship,  and 
should  call  forth  from  modern  masters  of  music 
the  most  religious  of  the  arts  of  expression,  out- 
bursts of  sublimest  song. 

"  And  yet  we  need  but  come  a  little  closer  to  the 
facts  to  find  them  apparently  telling  us  a  very  dif- 
ferent story.  The  moment  we  penetrate  below  the 
superficial  aspect  of  things,  the  scene  is  changed.     In 


THE  FINITE  35 

the  folklore  of  Ireland  there  is  a  widespread  belief 
in  a  fairyland  of  eternal  hope  and  brightness  and 
youth  situated  a  little  way  below  the  roots  of  the 
grass.  From  that  land  of  Tir  nan  Og,  as  the  peas- 
ants call  it,  the  secret  springs  of  life  shoot  forth  their 
scions  in  this  invisible  world,  and  thither  a  few  fa- 
voured mortals  have  now  and  then  found  their  way. 
It  is  into  no  blessed  country  of  Tir  nan  Og  that  our 
stern  science  leads  us,  but  into  a  scene  of  ugliness 
and  hatred,  strife  and  massacre. 

"  Macaulay  tells  of  the  battlefield  of  Neerwinden, 
that  the  next  summer  after  that  frightful  slaughter 
the  whole  country  side  was  densely  covered  with 
scarlet  poppies,  which  people  beheld  with  awe  as  a 
token  of  wrath  in  heaven  over  the  deeds  wrought 
on  earth  by  human  passions.  Any  summer  field, 
though  mantled  in  softest  green,  is  the  scene  of 
butchery  as  wholesale  as  that  of  Neerwinden,  and 
far  more  ruthless.  The  life  of  its  countless  tiny 
denizens  is  one  of  unceasing  toil,  of  crowding  and 
jostling,  where  the  weaker  fall  unpitied  by  the  way, 
of  starvation,  from  hunger  and  cold,  of  robbery 
utterly  shameless  and  murder  utterly  cruel.  That 
green  sward  in  taking  possession  of  its  territory  has 
exterminated  scores  of  flowering  plants  of  the  sort 


36  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

that  human  economics  and  aesthetics  stigmatise  as 
weeds;  nor  do  the  blades  of  the  victorious  army 
dwell  side  by  side  in  amity,  but  in  their  eagerness  to 
dally  with  the  sunbeams,  thrust  aside  and  supplant 
one  another  without  the  slightest  compunction.  Of 
the  crawling  insects  and  those  that  hum  through  the 
air  with  the  quaint  snail,  the  burrowing  worm,  the 
bloated  toad,  scarce  one  in  a  hundred  but  succumbs 
to  the  buffets  of  adverse  fortune  before  it  has 
achieved  maturity  and  left  offspring  to  replace  it. 
The  early  bird  who  went  forth  in  quest  of  the  worm 
was  lucky  if,  at  the  close  of  a  day  as  full  of  strife  and 
peril  as  ever  knight-errant  encountered,  he  did  not 
himself  serve  as  a  meal  for  some  giant  foe  in  the 
gloaming.  When  we  think  of  the  hawk's  talons 
buried  in  the  breast  of  the  wren,  while  the  relent- 
less beak  tears  the  little  wings  from  the  quivering, 
bleeding  body,  our  mood  toward  Nature  is  changed, 
and  we  feel  like  recoiling  from  a  world  in  which 
such  black  injustice,  such  savage  disregard  for 
others,  is  part  of  the  general  scheme." 

Looking  still  further  into  the  matter,  Fiske  goes 
on  to  say: 

"  We  find  that  this  hideous  hatred  and  strife,  this 
wholesale  famine  and  death,  furnish  the  indispen- 


THE  FINITE  37 

sable   conditions   for  the   evolution   of  higher   and 
higher  types  of  life. 

u  Nay,  more;  but  for  the  pitiless  destruction  of  all 
individuals  that  fall  short  of  a  certain  degree  of  fit- 
ness to  the  circumstances  of  life  into  which  they  are 
born,  the  type  would  inevitably  degenerate,  the  life 
would  become  lower  and  meaner  in  kind.  Increase 
in  richness,  variety,  complexity  of  life,  is  gained 
only  by  the  selection  of  variations  above  or  beyond 
a  certain  mean,  and  the  prompt  execution  of  a  death 
sentence  upon  all  the  rest.  The  principle  of  nat- 
ural selection  is  in  one  respect  intensely  Calvinistic; 
it  elects  the  one  and  damns  the  ninety-and-nine.  In 
these  processes  of  Nature  there  is  nothing  that 
savours  of  communistic  equality;  but  *  to  him  that 
hath  shall  be  given,  and  from  him  that  hath  not 
shall  be  taken  away  even  that  which  he  hath.' 
Through  this  selection  of  a  favoured  few,  a  higher 
type  of  life, —  or  at  all  events  a  type  in  which  there 
is  more  life, —  is  attained  in  many  cases,  but  not  al- 
ways. Evolution  and  progress  are  not  synonymous 
terms.  The  survival  of  the  fittest  is  not  always  a 
survival  of  the  best  or  of  the  most  highly  organised. 
The  environment  is  sometimes  such  that  increase  of 
fitness  means  degeneration  of  type,  and  the  animal 


38  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

and  vegetable  worlds  show  many  instances  of  degen- 
eration. One  brilliant  instance  is  that  which  has 
preserved  the  clue  to  the  remote  ancestry  of  the 
vertebrate  type.  The  molluscoid  ascidian,  rooted 
polyp-like  on  the  sea  beach  in  shallow  water,  has 
an  embryonic  history  which  shows  that  its  ancestors 
had  once  seen  better  days,  when  they  darted  to  and 
fro,  fishlike,  through  the  waves,  with  the  prophecy 
of  a  vertebrate  skeleton  within  them.  This  is  a 
case  of  marked  degeneration.  More  often  survival 
of  the  fittest  simply  preserves  the  type  unchanged 
through  long  periods  of  time.  But  now  and  then, 
under  favourable  circumstances,  it  raises  the  type. 
At  all  events,  whenever  the  type  is  raised,  it  is 
through  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  implying  destruc- 
tion of  all  save  the  fittest. 

"  This  last  statement  is  probably  true  of  all  plants 
and  of  all  animals  except  that  as  applied  to  the  hu- 
man race  it  needs  some  transcendently  important 
qualifications  which  students  of  evolution  are  very 
apt  to  neglect.  At  present  we  may  note  that  the 
development  of  civilisation  on  its  political  side  has 
been  a  stupendous  struggle  for  life,  wherein  the  pos- 
session of  certain  physical  and  mental  attributes  has 
enabled  some  tribes  or  nations  to  prevail  over  others, 


THE  FINITE  39 

and  to  subject  or  exterminate  them.  On  the  indus- 
trial side  the  struggle  has  been  no  less  fierce;  the 
evolution  of  higher  efficiency  through  merciless  com- 
petition is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge.  Alike 
in  the  occupations  of  war  and  in  those  of  peace,  su- 
perior capacity  has  thriven  upon  victories  in  which 
small  heed  has  been  paid  to  the  wishes  or  the  wel- 
fare of  the  vanquished.  In  human  history  perhaps 
no  relation  has  been  more  persistently  repeated  than 
that  of  the  hawk  and  the  wren.  The  aggression 
has  usually  been  defended  as  in  the  interests  of 
higher  civilisation,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  the 
defence  has  been  sustained  by  the  facts.  It  has,  in- 
deed, very  commonly  been  true  that  the  survival  of 
the  strongest  is  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 

"  Such  considerations  effect  our  mood  toward  na- 
ture in  a  way  that  is  somewhat  bewildering.  .  .  . 
A  thought  is  likely  to  arise  which  in  days  gone  by 
we  should  have  striven  to  suppress  as  too  impious 
for  utterance;  but  it  is  wiser  to  let  such  thoughts 
find  full  expression,  for  only  thus  can  we  be  sure  of 
understanding  the  kind  of  problem  we  are  trying  to 
solve.  Is  not,  then,  this  method  of  Nature  which 
achieves  progress  only  through  misery  and  death,  an 
exceedingly  brutal  and  clumsy  method?     Life,  one 


4o  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

would  think,  must  be  dear  to  the  everlasting  giver 
of  Life,  yet  how  cheap  it  seems  to  be  held  in  the 
general  scheme  of  things !  In  order  that  some  race 
of  moths  may  maintain  a  certain  fantastic  contour 
and  marking  of  their  wings,  untold  thousands  of 
moths  are  doomed  to  perish  prematurely.  Instead 
of  making  the  desirable  object  once  for  all,  the 
method  of  Nature  is  to  make  something  else  and 
reject  it,  and  so  on  through  countless  ages,  till  by 
slow  approximations  the  creative  thought  is  realised. 
u  Nature  is  often  called  thrifty;  yet  could  anything 
be  more  prodigal  or  more  cynical  than  the  waste  of 
individual  lives?  Does  it  not  remind  one  of 
Charles  Lamb's  famous  story  of  the  Chinaman 
whose  house  accidentally  burned  down  and  roasted 
a  pig,  whereupon  the  dainty  meat  was  tasted  and 
its  fame  spread  abroad  until  epicures  all  over  China 
were  to  be  seen  carrying  home  pigs  and  forthwith 
setting  fire  to  their  houses?  We  need  but  add  that 
the  custom  thus  established  lasted  for  centuries,  dur- 
ing which  every  dinner  of  pig  involved  the  sacrifice 
of  a  homestead,  and  we  seem  to  have  a  close  parody 
upon  the  wastefulness  of  Nature,  or  of  what  is  other- 
wise called  in  these  days  the  Cosmic  Process.  Upon 
such  a  view  as  this  the  Cosmic  Process  appears  in 


THE  FINITE  41 

a  high  degree  unintelligent,  not  to  say  immoral." 
Again  says  Fiske : 2  "  Survival  of  the  fittest,  as 
such,  has  no  sort  of  relation  to  moral  ends.  Beauty 
and  ugliness,  virtue  and  vice,  are  all  alike  to  it. 
Side  by  side  with  the  exquisite  rose  flourishes  the 
hideous  tarantula,  and  in  too  many  cases  the  villain's 
chances  of  a  livelihood  are  better  than  the  saint's. 
As  I  said  a  while  ago,  if  we  confine  our  attention  to 
the  survival  of  the  fittest  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, we  are  not  likely  to  arrive  at  conclusions  much 
more  satisfactory  than  Caliban's,  ■  As  it  likes  me 
each  time,  I  do;  So  he.' 

"  In  such  a  universe  we  may  look  in  vain  for  any 
sanction  for  morality,  any  justification  for  love  and 
self  sacrifice;  we  find  no  hope  in  it,  no  consolation; 
there  is  not  even  dignity  in  it;  nothing  whatever  but 
resistless  all-producing  and  all-consuming  energy. 

11  And,"  he  continues,  "  if  the  spirit  shown  in  Na- 
ture's works  as  thus  contemplated  is  not  one  of  wan- 
ton mockery,  it  seems  at  any  rate  to  be  a  spirit  of 
stolid  indifference.  It  indicates  a  Blind  Force  rather 
than  a  Beneficent  Wisdom  at  the  source  of  things." 
It  is  in  such  mood  as  this  that  Huxley  tells  us,  in 
his  famous   address   delivered  at  Oxford  in    1893, 

2  Fiske  :     Through  Nature  to  God,  pages  77,  78. 


42  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

that  there  is  no  sanction  for  morality  in  the  cosmic 
process.  "  Men  in  society,"  he  says,  "  are  un- 
doubtedly subject  to  the  cosmic  process.  As  among 
other  animals,  multiplication  goes  on  without  cessa- 
tion and  involves  severe  competition  for  the  means 
of  support.  The  struggle  for  existence  tends  to 
eliminate  those  less  fitted  to  adapt  themselves  to  the 
circumstances  of  their  existence.  The  strongest,  the 
most  self  assertive,  tend  to  tread  down  the  weaker. 
.  .  .  Social  progress  means  a  checking  of  the  cos- 
mic process  at  every  step,  and  the  substitution  of  it 
for  another,  which  may  be  called  the  ethical  process, 
the  end  of  which  is  not  the  survival  of  those  who 
may  happen  to  be  the  fittest  in  respect  of  the  whole 
of  the  conditions  which  exist,  but  of  those  who  are 
ethically  the  best."  Again  says  Huxley:  "  Let  us 
understand,  once  for  all,  that  the  ethical  progress 
of  society  depends,  not  on  imitating  the  cosmic  proc- 
ess, still  less  in  running  away  from  it,  but  in  com- 
bating it."  And  yet  again,  "  The  cosmic  process 
has  no  sort  of  relation  to  moral  ends."  3 

3  Fiske  says  afterwards,  that  Huxley  was  using  the  term, 
"  cosmic  process,"  as  equivalent  to  what  Darwin  called 
"  natural  selection  "  and  what  Spencer  called  "  survival  of 
the  fittest." 


THE  FINITE  43 

Continuing  our  investigation  of  the  character  of 
the  finite,  we  will  quote  further  from  the  descrip- 
tions of  others. 

"  There  must  be  some  sort  of  evil  present  when- 
ever there  is  a  finite  will.  It  is  not  joyous  to  be 
finite,  in  so  far  as  one  is  finite.  One  longs  always  to 
know  more  and  to  possess  more;  and  one  lives  in 
all  sorts  of  paradoxical  relations  to  other  finite  lives. 
One  lives  in  time,  or  in  some  such  imperfect  form 
of  appreciative  consciousness,  and  one  preserves 
one's  finitude  and  so  one's  endless  cares.4 

"  Most  of  us  had  rather  be  finite  than  nothing, 
although  even  that  is  not  necessarily  our  opinion. 
But  to  be  bounded  in  a  nutshell  and  to  have  bad 
dreams  as  well,  is  of  the  essence  of  temporality  and 
finitude  in  so  far  as  they  are  regarded  as  such. 

"  In  view  of  this  truth  one  can  well  say  that, 
speaking  in  temporal  terms,  there  just  now  is  in  the 
world  nobody  who  is  content  with  it."  5 

Proceeding  with  our  characterisation  of  the  finite, 
and  still  quoting  from  Professor  Royce,  "  The  worst 

4Josiah    Royce:     The    Spirit    of   Modern    Philosophy, 

page  437- 

5  Josiah  Royce  :  The  Spirit  of  Modern  Philosophy, 
page  438. 


44  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

tragedy  of  the  world  is  the  tragedy  of  the  brute 
chance  to  which  everything  spiritual  seems  to  be 
subject  amongst  us, —  the  tragedy  of  the  diabolical 
irrationality  of  so  many  among  the  foes  of  whatever 
is  significant.  An  open  enemy  you  can  face.  The 
temptation  to  do  evil  is  indeed  a  necessity  for  spirit- 
uality. But  one's  own  foolishness,  one's  ignorance, 
the  cruel  accidents  of  disease,  the  fatal  misunder- 
standings that  part  friends  and  lovers,  the  chance 
mistakes  that  wreck  nations, —  these  things  we  la- 
ment' most  bitterly,  not  because  they  are  painful, 
but  because  they  are  farcical,  distracting, —  not  foe- 
men  worthy  of  the  sword  of  the  spirit,  nor  yet  mere 
pangs  of  our  finitude  that  we  can  easily  learn  to  face 
courageously,  as  one  can  be  indifferent  to  physical 
pain.  No,  these  things  do  not  make  life  merely 
painful  to  us;  they  make  it  hideously  petty.  They 
are  like  the  '  mean  knights  '  that  beat  down  Lan- 
celot during  his  hopeless  wandering  in  search  of  the 
Grail."  6 

And  again:  "  But  this  capriciousness  of  life  is 
what  really  makes  it  seem  like  an  evil  dream.  Con- 
sider once  more  that  horror  involved  in  hereditary 

6  Josiah  Royce:  The  Spirit  of  Modern  Philosophy, 
page  465. 


THE  FINITE  45 

disease,  and  in  the  fatal  and  unearned  baseness 
which  often  goes  therewith.  Consider  the  way  in 
which  the  wrong-doing  of  one  person  often  entails 
not  the  physical  pain,  but  the  utter  and  inevitable 
corruption  and  endless  moral  degradation,  of  an- 
other. Consider  how  not  mere  disloyalty,  but  a 
transient  mistake,  may  wreck  the  most  spiritual  of 
causes  after  years  of  devotion  have  built  up  its  for- 
tunes nearly  to  the  heights  of  success.  These,  alas ! 
are  the  mere  commonplaces  of  our  temporal  order. 
Is  it  easy  to  say  that  these  things  are  needed  as  a 
part  of  the  gravity  of  the  spiritual  world?  No,  for 
they  don't  make  the  world  spiritually  grave.  They 
make  it  rather  insane  and  contemptible.  Moral  evil 
in  the  wilful  sinner  himself,  you  can  look  in  the  face 
and  defy,  and  that,  too,  even  if  you  are  yourself  the 
sinner.  '  Here,'  you  can  say,  '  is  my  natural  foe ; 
I  know  what  he  is  and  wherefore  he  is.  I  condemn 
him,  and  I  rejoice  in  defeating  him/  But  the  hope- 
less and  helpless  degradation  of  the  sinner's  passive 
victim,  how  shall  you  speak  comfortably  or  even  de- 
fiantly after  that?  Here  is  the  place  only  for  pity; 
and  in  a  world  that  is  full  of  such  things,  and  that 
always  will  be  full  of  such  things  so  long  as  its  or- 
der is  the  prey  of  the  mechanical  accidents  of  na- 


46  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

ture,  where  is  there  room  for  anything  but  pity  for 
its  worthlessness? 

"  Well,  here,  indeed,  we  find  the  enemy,  of  whose 
works  Shakespeare  wrote  in  the  sonnet  that  begins: 
1  Tired  of  all  these,  for  restful  death  I  cry.'  And 
this  will  always  be  the  cry  of  our  darker  moments 
so  long  as  the  tragedies  of  our  world  decline  to  ap- 
pear to  us  as  mainly  moral  tragedies.  Nay;  if  it 
were  only  our  sin  that  kept  us  from  God,  might  men 
not  often  hope  to  see  his  face?  The  true  devil 
isn't  crime,  then,  but  brute  chance.  For  this  devil 
teaches  us  to  doubt  and  grow  cold  of  heart;  he  de- 
nies God  everywhere,  and  in  all  his  creatures ;  makes 
our  world  of  action  that  was  to  be  a  spiritual 
tragedy,  too  often  a  mere  farce  before  our  eyes. 
And  to  see  this  farcical  aspect  of  the  universe  is  for 
the  first  time  to  come  to  a  sense  of  the  true  gloom  of 
life.7 

7  Josiah  Royce:  The  Spirit  of  Modern  Philosophy, 
pages  468-9. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  MYSTIC 

If  with  the  foregoing  description  of  the  finite 
world,  including  our  finitude,  the  last  word  had  been 
spoken  as  to  the  solution  of  the  problems  of  life,  we 
should  indeed  be  impressed  with  the  "  immitigability 
of  the  mortal  predicament,"  and  should  "  resign 
happiness,"  for,  with  Omar  Khayyam: 

"  Up  from  Earth's  Centre  through  the  Seventh  Gate 
I  rose,  and  on  the  Throne  of  Saturn  sate, 

And  many  a  Knot  unravel'd  by  the  Road; 
But  not  the  Master-Knot  of  Human  Fate. 

14  There  was  the  Door  to  which  I  found  no  Key ; 
There  was  the  Veil  through  which   I  might  not  see: 

Some  little  talk  awhile  of  Me  and  Thee 
There  was  —  and  then  no  more  of  Thee  and  Me. 

"  Earth  could  not  answer;  nor  the  Seas  that  mourn 
In  flowing  Purple,  of  their  Lord  forlorn ; 

Nor  rolling  Heaven,  with   all  his  Signs  revealed 
And  hidden  by  the  sleeve  of  Night  and  Morn." 

47 


48  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

But  must  we  stop  before  the  door  to  which  there 
seems  to  be  no  key,  must  the  world,  and  must  we,  be 
finite,  material?  It  is  quite  true  that  the  finite  in- 
telligence or  intellect,  the  finite  feelings  and  the 
finite  will,  bound  as  they  are  to  the  material,  have 
no  alternative  to  offer;  but  is  this  empirical  ego  the 
sole  dictator  of  what  we  shall  believe?  What  of 
our  other  states  of  consciousness,  not  material,  not 
intellectual,  but  spiritual?  Have  they  not  an  equal 
right  to  speak,  and  when  they  testify  to  a  super- 
sensible kingdom,  shall  they  not  be  given  a  hearing? 

There  are  many  persons  who  tell  of  states  of 
consciousness  synonymous  with  faith  and  with  un- 
derstanding states,  thereby  testifying  not  to  the 
sensible  world,  but  to  a  supersensible,  spiritual  or- 
der. Such  states  of  consciousness  have  a  "  specific 
quality,''  and  are  peculiar  to  the  mystic.  In  their 
more  striking  instances,  these  states  are  "  not  sim- 
ply an  expansion  and  extension  of  the  self-conscious 
mind,"  1  but  are  "  the  super-addition  of  a  function  as 
distinct  from  any  possessed  by  the  average  man  as 
self-consciousness  is  distinct  from  any  function  pos- 

1  The  larger  part  of  the  quotations  in  this  chapter  are 
taken  from  William  James:  The  Varieties  of  Religious 
Experience,  Lectures  XVI  and  XVII. 


THE  MYSTIC  49 

sessed  by  one  of  the  higher  animals."  They  are 
states  in  which  there  occurs  "  an  intellectual  enlight- 
enment which  alone  would  place  the  individual  on  a 
new  plane  of  existence,  would  make  him  almost  a 
member  of  a  new  species."  They  are  u  revelations 
full  of  significance,"  are  "  insights  into  depths  of 
truth  unplombed  by  the  intellect,"  and  stand  for 
"  an  added  dimension  of  emotion."  "  Whoever  has 
become  possessed  by  the  mystic  consciousness  has 
overcome  the  barriers  between  himself  and  God." 

What  is  it  that  the  mystic  experiences  in  the  fore- 
going states?  What  are  these  facts  which  the  in- 
stinct and  reason  can  never  know?  Passages  from 
the  mystics  themselves  answer  these  questions;  and 
since  it  is  with  revelations  of  religious  import  that 
we  are  interested,  we  will  confine  ourselves  to  the 
citation  of  experiences  in  which  the  senses  play  no 
part. 

"  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  writing  of  the  intuition 
and  '  touches  •  by  which  God  reaches  the  substance 
of  the  Soul,  tells  us  that  ■  they  enrich  it  marvel- 
lously.' " 

"  The  Vedantists  assure  us  that  when  a  man 
comes  out  of  the  mystic  state  he  remains  enlightened, 
a  sage,  a  prophet,   and  saint,  his  whole  character 


50  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

changed,  his  life  illumined."  u  In  India,  training 
in  mystical  insight  has  been  known  from  time  im- 
memorial under  the  name  of  Yoga,  which  signifies 
the  experimental  union  of  the  individual  with  the 
divine.  The  yogi,  or  disciple,  learns  .that  the  mind 
itself  has  a  higher  state  of  existence  beyond  reason, 
a  superconscious  state,  and  that  when  the  mind  gets 
to  that  higher  state,  then  this  knowledge  beyond 
reasoning  comes.  Just  as  unconscious  work  is  be- 
neath consciousness,  so  there  is  another  work  which 
is  above  consciousness,  and  which  also  is  not  ac- 
companied by  the  feeling  of  egoism.  There  is  no 
feeling  of  '  I,'  and  yet  the  mind  works,  desireless, 
free  from  restlessness,  objectless,  bodiless.  Then 
the  Truth  shines  in  its  full  effulgence,  and  we  know 
ourselves  for  what  we  truly  are, —  free,  immortal, 
omnipotent,  loosed  from  the  finite  and  its  contrasts 
of  good  and  evil,  and  identical  with  the  Universal 
Soul." 

"  When  a  fellow  monk,"  says  Luther,  "  one  day 
repeated  the  words  of  the  creed:  ■  I  believe  in  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,'  I  saw  the  Scripture  in  an  en- 
tirely new  light,  and  straightway  I  felt  as  if  I  were 
born  anew.  It  was  as  if  I  had  found  the  door  of 
Paradise  thrown  wide  open." 


THE  MYSTIC  51 

"  I  know,"  writes  Mr.  Trine,  "  an  officer  on  our 
police  force  who  has  told  me  that  many  times  when 
off  duty  and  on  his  way  home  in  the  evening,  there 
comes  to  him  such  vivid  and  vital  realisation  of  his 
oneness  with  this  Infinite  Power,  and  this  Spirit  of 
Infinite  Peace  so  takes  hold  of  and  so  fills  him,  that 
it  seems  as  if  his  feet  could  hardly  keep  to  the  pave- 
ment, so  buoyant  and  so  exhilarated  does  he  become 
by  reason  of  this  inflowing  tide." 

In  the  autobiography  of  J.  Trevor  we  find: 
u  These  highest  experiences  that  I  have  had  of  God's 
presence  have  been  rare  and  brief, —  flashes  of  con- 
sciousness which  have  compelled  me  to  exclaim  with 
surprise — '  God  is  here!' — or  conditions  of  ex- 
altation and  insight  less  intense,  and  only  gradually 
passing  away.  It  was  in  the  most  real  seasons  that 
the  Real  Presence  came,  and  I  was  aware  that  I 
was  immersed  in  the  infinite  ocean  of  God." 

St.  Ignatius  says  that,  a  single  hour  of  medita- 
tion has  taught  him  more  truths  about  heavenly 
things  than  all  the  teachings  of  all  the  doctors  put 
together  could  have  taught  him. 

A  Canadian  psychiatrist,  Dr.  R.  M.  Bucke,  gives 
to  the  more  distinctly  characterised  of  these  phe- 
nomena the  name  of  cosmic  consciousness.     "  The 


52  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

prime  characteristics  of  cosmic  consciousness  is  a 
consciousness  of  the  cosmos, —  that  is,  of  the  life 
and  order  of  the  universe.  Along  with  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  cosmos  there  comes  an  intellectual 
enlightenment  which  alone  would  place  the  in- 
dividual on  a  new  plane  of  existence,  would  make 
him  almost  a  member  of  a  new  species.  To  this 
is  added  a  state  of  moral  exaltation,  an  indescribable 
feeling  of  elevation,  elation,  and  joyousness,  and  a 
quickening  of  the  moral  sense,  which  is  fully  as 
striking  and  more  important  than  is  the  enhanced 
intellectual  power.  With  these  come  what  may  be 
called  a  sense  of  immortality,  a  consciousness  of 
eternal  life;  not  a  conviction  that  he  shall  have  this, 
but  the  consciousness  that  he  has  it  already." 

Dr.  Bucke  further  tells  of  his  own  experience  in 
cosmic  consciousness :  "I  had  spent  the  evening 
in  a  great  city  with  two  friends,  reading  and  dis- 
cussing poetry  and  philosophy.  We  parted  at  mid- 
night. I  had  a  long  drive  in  a  hansom  to  my  lodg- 
ing. My  mind,  deeply  under  the  influence  of  the 
ideas,  images,  and  emotions  called  up  by  the  read- 
ing and  talk,  was  calm  and  peaceful.  I  was  in  a 
state  of  quiet,  almost  passive,  enjoyment,  not  ac- 
tually thinking,  but  letting  ideas,  images,  and  emo- 


THE  MYSTIC  53 

tions  flow  of  themselves,  as  it  were,  through  my 
mind.  All  at  once,  without  warning  of  any  kind, 
I  found  myself  wrapped  in  a  flame-coloured  cloud. 
For  an  instant  I  thought  of  fire,  an  immense  con- 
flagration somewhere  close  by  in  that  great  city; 
the  next,  I  knew  that  the  fire  was  within  myself. 
Directly  afterwards  there  came  upon  me  a  sense 
of  exultation,  of  immense  joyousness  accompanied 
or  immediately  followed  by  an  intellectual  illumina- 
tion impossible  to  describe.  Among  other  things,  I 
did  not  merely  come  to  believe,  but  I  saw,  that  the 
universe  is  not  composed  of  dead  matter,  but  is, 
on  the  contrary,  a  living  Presence;  I  became  con- 
scious in  myself  of  eternal  life.  It  was  not  a  con- 
viction that  I  would  have  eternal  life,  but  a  con- 
sciousness that  I  possessed  eternal  life  then;  I  saw 
that  all  men  are  immortal;  that  the  cosmic  order  is 
such  that  without  any  peradventure  all  things  work 
together  for  the  good  of  each  and  all;  that  the 
foundation  principle  of  the  world,  of  all  the  worlds, 
is  what  we  call  love ;  and  that  the  happiness  of  each 
and  all  is  in  the  long  run  absolutely  certain.  The 
vision  lasted  a  few  seconds  and  was  gone;  but  the 
memory  of  it  and  the  sense  of  the  reality  of  what 
it  taught  has  remained  during  the  quarter  of  a  cen- 


54  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

tury  which  has  since  elapsed.  I  knew  that  what  the 
vision  showed  was  true.  I  had  attained  to  a  point 
of  view  from  which  I  saw  that  it  must  be  true. 
That  view,  that  conviction,  I  may  say  that  con- 
sciousness, has  never,  even  during  periods  of  the 
deepest  depression,  been  lost." 

The  following  was  taken  from  the  autobiography 
of  Al-Ghazzali,  a  Persian  philosopher  and  theolo- 
gian who  flourished  in  the  eleventh  century  and 
ranks  as  one  of  the  .greatest  doctors  of  the  Moslem 
church.  "  The  Science  of  the  Sufis,"  says  the  Mos- 
lem author,  "  aims  at  detaching  the  heart  from  all 
that  is  not  God,  and  at  giving  to  it  for  sole  occupa- 
tion the  meditation  of  the  divine  Being.  Theory 
being  more  easy  for  me  than  practice,  I  read 
(certain  books)  until  I  understood  all  that  can  be 
learned  by  study  and  hearsay.  Then  I  recognised 
that  what  pertains  most  exclusively  to  their  method 
is  just  what  no  study  can  grasp,  but  only  trans- 
port, ecstasy,  and  the  transformation  of  the  Soul.  .  .  . 
Thus  I  had  learned  what  words  could  teach  of 
Sufism,  but  what  was  left  could  be  learned  neither 
by  study  nor  through  the  ears,  but  solely  by  giv- 
ing one's  self  up  to  ecstasy  and  leading  a  pious 
life  .  .  .  The  first  condition  for  a  Sufi  is  to  purge 


THE  MYSTIC  55 

his  heart  entirely  of  all  that  is  not  God.  The  next 
key  of  the  contemplative  life  consists  in  the  humble 
prayers  which  escape  from  the  fervent  Soul,  and 
in  the  meditations  on  God  in  which  the  heart  is 
swallowed  up  entirely.  But  in  reality  this  is  only 
the  beginning  of  the  Sufi  life,  the  end  of  Sufism  be- 
ing total  absorption  in  God  .  .  .  Wherefore,  just 
as  the  understanding  is  a  stage  of  human  life  in 
which  an  eye  opens  to  discern  various  intellectual 
objects  uncomprehended  by  sensation,  just  so  in  the 
.prophetic  the  sight  is  illumined  by  a  light  which 
uncovers  hidden  things  and  objects  which  the  in- 
tellect fails  to  reach.  The  chief  properties  of 
prophetism  are  perceptible  only  during  the  trans- 
port, by  those  who  embrace  the  Sufi  life.  The 
prophet  is  endowed  with  qualities  to  which  you  pos- 
sess nothing  analogous,  and  which  consequently  you 
cannot  possibly  understand.  How  should  you  know 
their  nature,  since  one  knows  only  what  one  can 
comprehend?  But  the  transport  which  one  attains 
by  the  method  of  the  Sufis  is  like  an  immediate  per- 
ception, as  if  one  touched  the  objects  with  one's 
hand." 

St.  John  of  the  Cross,  one  of  the  best  of  the 
mystical  teachers,  thus  describes  the  condition  called 


5  6  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

"  the  union  of  love  "  which,  he  says,  is  reached  by 
"dark  contemplation."  (^"  In  this  the  Deity  com- 
penetrates  the  Soul,  but  in  such  a  hidden  way  that 
the  Soul  finds  no  terms,  no  means,  no  comparison 
whereby  to  render  the  sublimity  of  the  wisdom  and 
the  delicacy  of  the  spiritual  feeling  with  which  she 
is  filled.  We  receive  this  mystical  knowledge  of 
God,  clothed  in  none  of  the  kinds  of  images,  in  none 
of  the  sensible  representations,  which  our  mind 
makes  use  of  in  other  circumstances.  Accordingly, 
in  this  knowledge,  since  the  senses  and  the  imagina- 
tion are  not  employed,  we  get  neither  form  nor  im- 
pression, nor  can  we  give  any  account  or  furnish  any 
likeness,  although  the  mysterious  and  sweet-tasting 
wisdom  comes  home  so  clearly  to  the  inmost  parts 
of  our  soul.  Fancy  a  man  seeing  a  certain  kind  of 
thing  for  the  first  time  in  his  life.  He  can  under- 
stand it,  use  and  enjoy  it,  but  he  cannot  apply  a 
name  to  it,  nor  communicate  any  idea  of  it,  even 
though  all  the  while  it  be  a  mere  thing  of  sense. 
How  much  greater  will  be  his  powerlessness  when 
it  goes  beyond  the  senses!  This  is  the  peculiarity 
of  the  divine  language.  The  more  infused,  inti- 
mate, spiritual,  and  supersensible  it  is,  the  more  does 
it  exceed  the  senses,  both  inner  and  outer,  and  im- 


THE  MYSTIC  57 

pose  silence  upon  them.  .  .  .  The  soul  then  feels 
as  if  placed  in  a  vast  and  profound  solitude,  to 
which  no  created  thing  has  access,  in  an  immense 
and  boundless  desert, —  desert  the  more  delicious, 
the  more  solitary  it  is.  There,  in  this  abyss  of  wis- 
dom, the  soul  grows  by  what  it  drinks  in  from  the 
well-springs  of  the  comprehension  of  love,  .  .  . 
and  recognises,  however  sublime  and  learned  may  be 
the  terms  we  employ,  how  utterly  vile,  insignificant, 
and  improper  they  are,  when  we  seek  to  discourse 
I   of  divine  things  by  their  means." 

From  a  French  book,  Professor  James  says  he 
takes  this  mystical  expression  of  happiness  in  God's 
indwelling  presence: 

"  Jesus  has  come  to  take  up  his  abode  in  my 
heart.  It  is  not  so  much  a  habitation,  an  associa- 
tion, as  a  sort  of  fusion.  Oh,  new  and  blessed  life ! 
life  which  becomes  each  day  more  luminous.  .  .  . 
The  wall  before  me,  dark  a  few  moments  since,  is 
splendid  at  this  hour  because  the  sun  shines  on  it. 
.  .  .  My  days  succeed  each  other;  yesterday  a  blue 
sky ;  to-day  a  clouded  sun ;  a  night  filled  with  strange 
dreams;  but  as  soon  as  the  eyes  open,  and  I  regain 
consciousness  and  seem  to  begin  life  again,  it  is 
always  the  same  figure  before  me,  always  the  same 


58  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

presence  filling  my  heart.  .  .  .  Formerly  the  day 
was  dulled  by  the  absence  of  the  Lord.  I  used  to 
wake,  invaded  by  all  sorts  of  sad  impressions,  and 
I  did  not  find  Him  on  my  path.  To-day  He  is 
with  me;  and  the  light  cloudiness  which  covers 
things  is  not  an  obstacle  to  my  communion  with 
Him.  I  feel  the  pressure  of  His  hand;  I  feel  some- 
thing else  which  fills  me  with  a  serene  joy:  shall  I 
dare  to  speak  it  out?  Yes,  for  it  is  the  true  expres- 
sion of  what  I  experience.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  not 
merely  making  me  a  visit;  it  is  no  mere  dazzling 
apparition  which  may  from  one  moment  to  another 
spread  its  wings  and  leave  me  in  my  night;  it  is  a 
permanent  habitation.  He  can  depart  only  if  He 
takes  me  with  Him.  More  than  that;  He  is  not 
other  than  myself;  He  is  one  with  me.  It  is  not  a 
juxtaposition;  it  is  a  penetration,  a  profound  modifi- 
cation of  my  nature,  a  new  manner  of  my  being." 

From  many  examples  I  have  chosen  the  following 
from  Thomas  a  Kempis: 

"Give  Thyself  to  me  and  it  is  enough;  for  be- 
sides Thee  no  other  is  of  avail.  Without  Thee  I 
cannot  exist,  and  without  thy  visitation  I  cannot  live. 
Therefore  it  behooves  me  often  to  draw  near  to 
Thee,   and  to   receive  Thee  as   a   remedy   for  my 


THE  MYSTIC  59 

Soul's  health:  lest  perchance  I  fall  by  the  way,  if 
I  be  deprived  of  this  heavenly  sustenance." 

The  following  quotation  is  taken  from  Science  and 
Health: 

11  When  apparently  near  the  confines  of  mortal 
existence,  standing  already  within  the  shadow  of 
the  death  valley,  I  learned  these  truths  in  divine 
science :  that  all  real  being  is  in  God,  the  divine 
Mind,  and  that  Life,  Truth,  and  Love  are  all-power- 
ful and  ever-present;  that  the  opposite  of  Truth, — 
called  error,  sin,  sickness,  disease,  death, —  is  the 
false  testimony  of  false  material  sense,  of  mind  in 
matter;  that  this  false  sense  evolves,  in  belief,  a 
subjective  state  of  mortal  mind  which  this  same  so- 
called  mind  names  matter;  thereby  shutting  out  the 
true  sense  of  spirit." 

The  beauty  of  all  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  these 
experiences  are  an  evidence  of  the  dawning  revela- 
tion of  the  Christ  Idea  in  human  experience  regard- 
less of  environment  or  previous  education.  Here 
we  find  at-one-ment  revealed  between  man  and  God, 
and  man's  own  selfhood  in  his  consciousness  of  the 
divine  Presence. 

The  poets  have  sometimes  given  expression  to 
this  feeling,  as  in  the  case  of  Lowell: 


60  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

"  Man  cannot  be  God's  outlaw  if  he  would, 
Nor  so  abscond  him  in  the  caves  of  sense, 
But  Nature  still  shall  search  some  crevice  out 
With  messages  of  splendour  from  that  Source 
Which,  dive  he,  soar  he,  baffles  still  and  lures. 
This  life  were  brutish  did  we  not  sometimes 
Have  intimation  clear  of  wider  scope, 
Hints  of  occasion  infinite,  to  keep 
The  soul  alert  with  noble  discontent 
And  onward  yearnings  of  unstilled  desire. 

11  Sometimes  at  waking,  in  the  street  sometimes, 
Or  on  the  hillside,  always  unforewarned, 
A  grace  of  being,  finer  than  himself, 
That  beckons  and  is  gone, —  a  larger  life 
Upon  his  own  impinging. 

"  Shall  he  not  catch  the  Voice  that  wanders  earth, 
With  spiritual  summons,  dreamed  or  heard, 
As  sometimes,  just  ere  sleep  seals  up  the  sense, 
We  hear  our  mother  call  from  deeps  of  Time 
And,  waking,  find  it  vision, —  none  the  less 
The  benediction  bides,  old  skies  return, 
And  that  Unreal  thing,  pre-eminent, 
Makes  air  and  dream  of  all  we  see  and  feel? 

"  Yet  for  a  moment  I  was  snatched  away 
And  had  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen; 
For  one  rapt  moment ;  then  it  all  came  back  — " 

The  Cathedral 


THE  MYSTIC  61 

The  student  of  the  mystical  inevitably  recalls  the 
wealth  of  such  experiences  offered  to  him  in  the 
Bible : 

There  was  the  visit  of  the  Angel  Gabriel  to  a 
virgin  in  Nazareth,  and  his  prophecy:  "  The  Holy 
Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the 
Highest  shall  overshadow  thee;  therefore  also  that 
holy  thing  that  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called 
the  Son  of  God."  2  There  were  the  wise  men  who 
followed  the  star  till  it  came  and  stood  over  where 
the  young  child  was ; 3  and  the  Shepherds  u  keeping 
watch  over  their  flock  by  night,  and,  lo,  the  angel 
of  the  Lord  came  upon  them.  .  .  .  And  suddenly 
there  was  with  the  angel  a  multitude  of  heavenly 
host  praising  God,  and  saying,  Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward 
men."  4 

In  Jesus  Christ,  the  most  spiritual  of  mystics, 
is  revealed,  in  clear  outlines  and  marvellous  depth, 
the  consciousness  which  knows  the  spiritual,  and  the 
power  which  such  a  consciousness  possesses.  Proofs 
of  this  power  are  given  in  such  miracles  as  Christ's 
feeding  of  the  five  thousand,   His  healing  of  the 

2  The   Annunciation;   Luke    l :    26-35. 

3  Matthew  2:  I-I2. 

4  Luke  2:   8-14. 


62  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

sick,  His  raising  of  Lazarus  from  the  dead,  followed 
by  His  transfiguration,  His  resurrection  and  His  as- 
cension, which  testify  to  His  own  growth  in  spiritual 
knowledge  and  power. 

Such  a  consciousness  longs  to  show  to  others  the 
way  of  power,  and  in  obedience  to  this  longing 
Jesus  untiringly  endeavoured  to  teach  the  disciples 
what  he  knew;  and  we  realise  with  what  measure 
of  success,  as  we  recall  the  day  of  Pentecost,  or 
Peter's  healing  of  the  lame  man  and  his  restoration 
of  Tabitha  to  life.  Even  Paul  was  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,'  although  he  had  never  seen  Jesus  in  the 
flesh. 

When  contemplating  such  mystical  experiences, 
they  seem  at  first  sight  to  form  a  tiny  stream  of 
thought,  a  golden  thread,  half  hidden;  but  follow- 
ing its  course  as  it  winds  down  the  centuries,  from 
dimmest  vistas  of  time  till  now,  down  through  the 
mountains  of  experience  which  raise  their  snow-clad 
peaks  to  heaven,  one  sees  this  once  tiny  stream  ever 
receiving  into  itself  many  waters  and  imaging  within 
their  depths,  in  radiant  colours,  the  countless  reflec- 
tions which  it  catches  from  above,  until,  like  a  river 
of  life,  it  flows  from  the  hearts  of  men  to  the  feet 
of  God,  and  voices  to  Him  in  tuneful  measures  the 


THE  MYSTIC  63 

pulse  beats  of  His  world.  We  trace  this  mystic 
river  out  wherever  men  have  lived,  and  find  in  it 
the  countless  soils  and  myriad  growths  through 
which  its  path  has  flowed.  We  taste  in  it  their 
fruits,  and  catch  the  fragrance  of  their  flowers  as 
we  breathe  the  divine  essence  which  it  exhales,  dis- 
tilled from  the  lifted  hearts  of  many  a  people  in 
prayer. 

And  not  only  the  prayers  of  heroes  and  of  martyrs 
shall  be  preserved  in  this  mighty  hymn  of  men's 
souls,  but  as  well  the  prayers  of  those  uncounted 
beings,  seeming  driftwood  on  the  sea  of  life,  who, 
although  their  lips  are  silent,  yet  are  lifting  speaking 
hearts  to  heights  above  them  in  passionate  petition 
to  a  higher  power,  that  their  hands  may  not  fail  nor 
their  hearts  falter.  Could  we  know  of  all  men's 
prayers,  what  a  contribution  it  would  make  to  this 
record  of  man's  life  in  close  and  sustaining  com- 
munion with  his  Father! 

From  the  high  places  of  thought,  everywhere, 
come  also  to  this  one  stream  of  many  waters  the 
ecstasy  of  life,  its  laughter  as  well  as  its  tears;  and 
as  its  depths  are  filled  with  the  spirit  of  service  and 
high  endeavour,  its  surface  dances  and  sparkles  with 
the  spirit  of  play  in  men. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  UNFOLDING  OF  THE  MYSTIC 
CONSCIOUSNESS 

After  reading  and  analysing  these  mystical  ex- 
periences, one  may  be  satisfied  with  coming  to  the 
scholarly  conclusions  that  "  such  states  open  out 
other  orders  of  truth  to  us,"  and  "  their  existence 
absolutely  overthrows  the  pretention  of  non-mystical 
states  to  be  the  sole  and  ultimate  dictators  of  what 
we  may  believe. "  1 

No  one  could  put  such  conclusions  in  a  more  con- 
vincing form  than  Professor  James  when  he  says: 
"  Our  normal  waking  consciousness, —  rational  con- 
sciousness," as  we  call  it, —  is  but  one  special  type 
of  consciousness,  whilst  all  about  it,  parted  from  it 
by  the  filmiest  of  screens,  there  lie  potential  forms 

1  William  James:  Varieties  of  Religious  Experiences, 
page  427. 

Mystical  states  break  down  the  authority  of  the  non- 
mystical  or  rationalistic  consciousness,  based  upon  the  in- 
tellect and  the  senses  alone. — James,  page  423. 

64 


UNFOLDING  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS     65 

of  consciousness  entirely  different.  We  may  go 
through  life  without  suspecting  their  existence;  but 
apply  the  requisite  stimulus,  and  at  a  touch  they  are 
there  in  all  their  completeness, —  definite  types  of 
mentality  which  probably  somewhere  have  their  field 
of  application  and  adaptation."  2 

These  conclusions,  couched  in  the  cool  language 
of  scientific  research,  are  inevitable  if  the  reader  of 
mystical  experiences  be  of  an  open  and  disinterested 
mind.  One  equally  hospitable  to  the  experiences  of 
others,  but  bringing  to  them  a  different  tempera- 
ment, will  find  his  imagination  stirred  as  the  mystics 
tell  of  a  life  passed  on  the  farther  side  of  that  field 
of  consciousness  which  most  men  call  normal.  And 
when  they  bring  back  across  the  border  rumours  of 
the  aspects  and  occupations  in  a  rarely  explored 
land,  and  tell  of  dreams  that  come  to  fulfilment  in 
some  "  shadowy  isle  of  bliss  midmost  the  beating  of 
the  steely  sea,"  he  may  idly  wish  that  he,  too,  with 
St.  Martin,  had  seen  u  flowers  that  sounded,"  and 
"  heard  notes  that  shone  " ;  and  with  the  Celtic  poets 
had  caught  the  "  music  of  the  sunfire  on  the  waves 
at  daybreak." 

2  William  James  :  Varieties  of  Religious  Experiences, 
page  388. 


66  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

Another  may  go  even  farther  upon  the  hearing 
of  mystical  experiences,  and  with  a  worthy  ambition 
to  enlarge  his  horizon  may  consciously  decide,  as  a 
matter  of  education,  to  try  to  enter  into  such  experi- 
ences, since  this  mystical  truth  exists  for  him  who 
enters  this  higher  state  of  consciousness,  and  for 
him  alone. 

If,  however,  one  reads  the  experiences  of  the 
mystic,  not  with  idle  nor  yet  intellectual  curiosity, 
but  in  the  light  of  some  definite  finite  experience 
through  which  he  has  just  passed,  his  attitude  is  of 
a  much  more  serious  nature.  His  experience  may 
be  one  of  sorrow,  loneliness,  or  pain, —  perhaps  one 
of  sin;  or  it  may  be  only  that  his  heart  beats  low  and 
fails  of  its  desire.  But  whatever  the  experience 
may  be,  if  he  is  conscious  of  its  significance,  the 
weight  of  it  will  be  sufficient  to  make  him  rebel 
against  the  actual  and  long  for  that  which  shall  trans- 
cend it.  Must  he  be  finite  and  subject  to  a  finite  or- 
der, is  the  question  which  will  persistently  force  it- 
self upon  him.  At  such  a  moment,  no  Omar 
Khayyam  knows  more  of  the  keyless  door  than  he, 
nor  more  of  the  veil  through  which  we  cannot  see. 
He  needs  no  Schopenhauer  now,  to  tell  him  that 
life  is  through  and  through  tragic  and  evil.     At  such 


UNFOLDING  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS     67 

a  moment,  he  finds  poor  consolation  in  the  "  faith 
that  looks  through  death,"  or  in  the  philosophic 
mind,  for  the  loss  of  that  "  bright  radiance  "  which 
now  fails  him. 

The  mystic  experiences,  read  at  such  a  moment, 
do  more  than  appeal  to  that  faculty  which  collects 
data;  do  more  than  kindle  the  imagination;  do  more 
than  arouse  our  instinct  for  self-enlargement. 
They  are  the  ship  in  sight  as  we  are  about  to 
founder;  they  awaken  a  hope  in  us,  and  make  a  rift 
in  the  black  cloud  which  bears  down  upon  us,  as  we 
eagerly  drink  in  the  real  significance  of  the  mystical 
experiences. 

This  significance  consists  in  the  fact  that  whereas 
the  so-called  normal,  rational  consciousness  is 
paralleled  by  a  finite  world,  the  highest  mystical  con- 
sciousness is  not  only  paralleled  by  a  divine  world, 
but  it  and  its  realm  are  antagonistic  and  destructive 
to  the  realm  of  the  finite.  And  just  here  we  catch 
a  glimpse  of  the  great  truth  that  we  ourselves  may 
determine  the  world  in  which  we  live,  by  making  a 
choice  of  the  consciousness  which  we  hold.3     Should 

3  We  shall  see  that  Idealism,  of  whatever  kind,  reduces 
the  universe  to  thoughts  and  their  outward  appearances. 
Every  thought  has  its  outward  appearance  and  this  appear- 


68  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

we  choose  to  keep  active  the  material,  human  con- 
sciousness, such  a  choice  would  assure  to  us  the  life 
of  a  material  being  in  mind  and  body,  subject  to 
sensuous  pleasure,  sorrow,  sin,  pain,  death,  and  all 
finite  conditions.  Should  we,  however,  choose  to 
bring  into  play  and  to  keep  active  the  highest  spirit- 
ual consciousness,  we  should  virtually  be  determining 
for  ourselves  the  life  of  a  spiritual  being,  subject  to 
spiritual  law,  and  free  from  the  physical  order  with 
all  its  attendant  evils  and  pleasures. 

When  once  intense  suffering  or  even  a  lack  of 
joy  and  interest  has  revealed  to  one  this  real  sig- 
nificance of  the  mystical  experience,  and  he  sees, 
through  others,  the  potential  of  his  own  nature  and 
the  possibility  of  determining  to  perfection  his  world, 
his  one  desire  is  to  be  more  awake  on  the  mystic 

ance  is  entirely  dependent  for  its  quality  upon  the  kind  of 
thought  behind  it.  The  material  world  is  the  outward  ap- 
pearance of  mortal  thoughts  only.  There  are,  however, 
other  appearances  to  be  seen  by  those  who  hold  their 
thoughts  above  the  mortal  plane.  John  saw  "  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth."  Elisha  saw  Elijah  taken  from  him. 
"  And  Jesus,  when  he  was  baptised,  went  up  straightway 
out  of  the  water:  and  lo,  the  heavens  were  opened  unto 
him,  and  he  saw  the  Spirit  of  God  descending  like  a  dove, 
and  lighting  upon  him;  and,  lo,  a  voice  from  heaven,  say- 
ing, This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased." 


UNFOLDING  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS     69 

side.  He  is  athirst  for  the  fountain  of  Life,  and  a 
hope  is  born  in  him  that  he,  too,  shall  overcome  and 
inherit  all  things;  that  he,  too,  shall  be  led  by  the 
Spirit;  and  that  the  angel  of  the  Lord  shall  come 
upon  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  shine  about 
him. 

To  be  more  awake  on  the  mystic  side,  awake  to 
the  extent  of  having  at  will  mystical  experiences  of 
religious  rank, —  that  is  now  his  desire ;  and  lest  in 
a  moment  of  weakness  he  should  be  overcome  by 
his  apparent  unfitness  to  attain  to  these  mental  states, 
he  must  realise  that  if  there  exists  one  who  can  say 
that  "  there  is  a  verge  of  his  mind  which  these 
truths  haunt,"  then  all  can  say  it.  If  but  one  has 
become  a  mystic  to  the  extent  of  "  overcoming  all 
the  usual  barriers  between  the  individual  and  the  ab- 
solute," and  "  has  become  aware  of  that  oneness," 
"  that  unity  between  man  and  God," —  then  all  can 
be  mystics,  and  reap  all  the  truths  which  such  states 
of  mind  yield.  Moreover,  if  one  has  attained  to 
the  mystic  state,  it  is  compulsory  for  each  one  of  us 
to  attain  to  it.  Christ,  St.  John,  St.  Teresa,  St.  John 
of  the  Cross,  and  numberless  others  are  the  first 
fruits,  and  all  are  destined  to  be  the  second. 

Having  established  the  existence  of  the  mystical 


7o  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

consciousness  and  our  obligation  to  cultivate  it,  it 
now  devolves  upon  us  to  find  a  method  of  training 
the  mystical  power  inherent  within  us. 

Before  entering,  however,  upon  the  training  of 
that  faculty  which  makes  for  mystical  experiences, 
let  us  further  fortify  ourselves  against  discourage- 
ment by  realising  again  that  we  neither  must  nor  can 
enter  into  the  higher  religious  state  of  consciousness 
by  means  of  the  finite  intellect.4  The  mystic  him- 
self is  aware  of  this  fact.  He  knows  that  there  is 
a  mental  state  beyond  the  finite  reason,  and  that  only 
while  he  is  in  this  state  will  the  knowledge  beyond 
the  finite  come  to  him.5 

*That  these  states  of  consciousness  which  yield  spiritual 
truths  do  not  depend  upon  the  finite  intellect  is  made  plain 
by  a  comparison  of  the  intellectual  consciousness  with  the 
mystical.  The  finite  intellect  bases  its  authority  upon  the 
testimony  of  the  senses;  but  the  senses,  in  the  religious 
moods  which  we  are  considering,  are  in  abeyance.  In  these 
highest  mystic  states  there  is  a  feeling  of  having  passed  out  of 
the  body;  space,  time,  and  all  sensations  are  obliterated, 
and  the  sense  of  physical  relations  is  lost. 

5  In  the  orison  of  union,"  continues  St.  Teresa,  "  the 
soul  is  fully  awake  as  regards  God,  but  wholly  asleep  as  re- 
gards things  of  this  world.  Her  intellect  would  fain  un- 
derstand something  of  what  is  going  on  within  her;  but  it 
has  so  little  force  now  that  it  can  act  in  no  way  whatso- 


UNFOLDING  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS     71 

The  mystic,  moreover,  not  only  realises  that  the 
instrument  or  mind  of  Christ  by  which  the  super- 
sensible is  revealed  to  him  is  not  the  finite  intellect, 
but  many  of  them  feel  that  these  two  so-called  know- 
ing powers, —  the  mind  of  Christ  and  the  mortal 
sense, —  are  antagonistic  to  one  another,6  inasmuch 
as  one  "  silences  "  the  other;  "the  senses  and  the 
intellect  swoon  away  "  in  the  presence  of  the  higher 
mind.7 

ever.  .  .  .  Thus  does  God,  when  He  raises  a  soul  to  union 
with  Himself,  suspend  the  natural  action  of  all  her  facul- 
ties." 

"  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  thee,  except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the 
kingdom  of  God." — John  3 :  3. 

"  But  the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God :  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him :  neither  can 
he  know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  discerned." — 
I  Corinthians  2:  14. 

6  "  But  as  then  he  that  was  born  after  the  flesh  persecuted 
him  that  was  born  after  the  Spirit;  even  so  it  is  now." — 
Galatians  4:  29. 

11  For  the  flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit,  and  the  Spirit 
against  the  flesh :  and  these  are  contrary  the  one  to  the  other." 
— Galatians  5:17. 

7  In  the  mystic  consciousness,  the  "  lower  self  is  lost  as 
the  higher  self  appears.  ...  As  the  conditions  of  ordinary 
consciousness  are  subtracted  the  sense  of  an  underlying,  essen- 
tial consciousness  acquires  intensity." 


72  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

We  therefore  see  that  whatever  methods  we  adopt 
for  the  unfolding  of  our  truth-knowing  power,  such 
methods  will  not  be  directed  toward  a  finite  intellect, 
but  will  be  concentrated  upon  a  spiritual  capacity; 
since  it,  alone,  can  experience  spiritual, —  that  is, 
truth-knowing, —  states  of  consciousness. 

The  unfolding  of  any  power  is  brought  about 
through  its  use.  To  this  rule  the  capacity  in  ques- 
tion offers  no  exception.  And  since,  in  its  ultimate 
analysis,  our  spiritual  power  to  know  is  a  capacity 
for  knowing  the  truth,9,  such  power  will  be  exercised 
and  so  unfolded  in  proportion  to  our  seeking  for, 
and  absorption  in,  truth  or  reality. 

Let  us,  therefore,  try  to  find  out  and  to  realise 
as  true  the  truth  concerning  all  things;  i.e.,  the  right 
answers  to  all  questions:  questions  about  God,  His 
nature  and  His  relation  to  us;  about  ourselves  and 
our  natures;  about  that  of  which  we  are  made  and 
the  laws  we  are  meant  to  obey.  Let  us  also  try  to 
find  the  true  answers  to  questions  concerning  the  ani- 
mals, the  flowers,  and  all  the  out-of-door  things. 
Of  what  are  they  made,  by  what  laws  are  they  gov- 
erned, and  what  is  their  relation  to  God  and  to  us? 

8  Becoming  conscious  of  the  truth  involves  the  under- 
standing and  the  expression  of  it. 


UNFOLDING  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS     73 

Let  us  seek  to  know  what  evil  is;  if  it  has  to  be; 
and,  if  not,  how  we  may  rid  ourselves  of  its  seeming 
necessity.  Let  us  try  to  understand  why  we  ought 
to  do  right  and  what  is  right;  why  we  ought  to  be 
happy,  beautiful,  and  gifted,  and  how  it  is  possible 
to  bring  this  about. 

Such  problems,  yet  unsolved,  run  in  an  undercur- 
rent through  the  minds  of  all  of  us;  and  since  their 
true  answers  demand  ever  fresh  activity  on  the  part 
of  our  truth-knowing  capacity,  we  will  seek  to  know 
such  truths,  since  our  purpose  is,  through  its  activity, 
to  unfold  the  truth-knowing  capacity  to  its  fullest. 

Many  bring  about  this  exercise  and  unfoldment 
of  the  Christ  mind  by  having  faith  in  the  truth  of 
what  Christ,  the  disciples,  and  the  saints  have  re- 
vealed, however  foreign  to  their  own  experience  such 
revelations  may  be.  And  to  enter  thus  through  an 
act  of  faith  is  the  simplest,  although  not  the  deep- 
est way  to  arrive  at  spiritual  experiences  and  to  win 
the  knowledge  which  they  bring.  But  in  our  time 
there  are  many  who  will  not  be  satisfied  with  what 
mere  faith  brings  them;  and,  too,  there  are  those 
to  whom  even  faith  is  denied,  for  the  strong  develop- 
ment of  the  scientific,  the  material  sense  has  silenced 
the  mind  that  makes  for  faith  in  the  supersensible. 


74  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

For  these  we  must  go  further  in  pointing  out  the 
way  to  the  spiritual  experience.  And  although  in 
some  hearts  faith  is  silenced,  in  others  it  has  grown 
into  a  great  prayer  for  understanding.  Therefore, 
if  there  are  those  who  are  seemingly  farther  away 
from  that  state  of  mind  which  leads  to  God  than 
were  our  forefathers,  there  are  those  who  are 
nearer;  for  understanding,  or  even  a  desire  to  un- 
derstand God,  is  a  greater  realisation  of  ourselves 
as  the  Sons  of  God  than  an  attitude  of  faith  can  be. 
Those  whose  faith  seems  gone,  as  well  as  those  in 
whom  faith  has  grown  into  something  larger,  must 
come  to  understanding. 

But  who  can  teach  us  the  way  to  understanding? 
We  need  technique.9  Many  a  mystic  goes  into  rap- 
tures over  the  visions  which  come  to  him  unsought; 
but  his  descriptions  leave  us  cold,  for  we  have  no 
visions,  and  he  cannot  tell  us  how  his  come.  A  great 
singer  was  once  visited  by  a  pupil  who  had  trouble 
with  her  breath  support.  The  question  of  how  to 
breathe  seemed  to  the  artist  to  be  beneath  her  con- 
sideration. "  It  is  so  easy/'  she  said;  "  even  the 
beasts  can  breathe."     It  is  needless  to  say  that  the 

9  By  M  technique  "  we  mean  the  activity  of  a  specific  kind 
of  thinking. 


UNFOLDING  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS     75 

pupil  was  not  helped  by  the  great,  but  unconscious, 
artist.  Our  need  is  not  so  much  for  the  unconscious 
mystic  as  for  one  who  is  conscious  of  the  laws  which 
are  operating  to  bring  about  his  results.  And  our 
need  has  been  met.  The  laws  of  thought  operating 
in  our  old  faiths,  and  which  will  be  operative  in  our 
future  understanding,  have  been  discovered,  and  we 
may  lay  hold  of  these  laws.  This  is  the  joy  re- 
served for  those  who  seek  for  the  understanding 
of  the  truth. 

The  first  step  to  be  taken  by  those  who  find  it 
necessary  to  resort  to  the  technique  of  spiritual 
mysticism,  is  the  comprehension  of  the  general  doc- 
trine of  Idealism. 


II 

IDEALISM 


CHAPTER  VII 

A  GENERAL  STATEMENT  OF  IDEALISM 

In  its  simplest  form,  and  in  the  form  in  which  it 
is  common  to  the  doctrines  of  Kant,  Fichte,  Hegel, 
Berkeley,  and  the  Christian  Scientists,  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  Idealism  may  be  variously  ex- 
pressed :  "  The  external  world  is  only  a  mass  of 
ideas  seen  from  without."  Our  world  is  of  such 
stuff  as  ideas  are  made  of."  "  Only  ideas  are  the 
realities."  "  In  the  world  of  experience  there  is 
properly  no  such  thing  as  material  substance  discern- 
ible at  all.  The  world  of  sense  experience  is  a 
world  of  ideas  and  their  laws."  1 

1  Additional  statements  of  Idealism : 

"What  do  I  mean  by  space?  Only  a  vast  system  of 
ideas  which  experience  and  my  own  mind  force  upon  me. 
.  .  .  And  when  we  put  our  world  into  space  and  call  it  real 
there,  we  simply  think  one  idea  into  another  idea ;  not  volun- 
tarily, to  be  sure,  but  inevitably,  and  yet  without  leaving 
the  realm  of  ideas." — Josiah  Royce:  Spirit  of  Modern 
Philosophy,  page  358. 

"  There  is  no  being  or  fact  outside  of  that  which  is  com- 

79 


8o  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

Deussen  brings  this  home  when  he  tells  us  that 
"  not  only  the  movements  of  my  limbs,  but  also  the 
limbs  themselves  of  which  my  body  is  composed,  are 
intrinsically  and  in  themselves  Will."  3  Again  he 
says :  "  My  body  is  nothing  but  Will  itself,  ob- 
jectified in  space  and  time  through  causality;  and  all 
its  members, —  hand,  foot,  brain,  stomach,  etc., — 
are  the  objectity  of  the  various  tendencies  of  Will."  2 
And  he  defines  Will  as  "  that  which  indeed  under- 
lies all  inner  emotions,  all  desiring,  striving,  wishing, 
longing,  craving,  hoping,  loving,  rejoicing,  grieving, 
etc.,  but  of  which  we  first  become  fully  conscious  in 
performing  externally  any  movement  of  our  limbs, 
or  in  experiencing  any  influence  on  our  body   (hun- 

monly  called  the  psychical  existence,  feeling,  thought,  and 
volition." — Bradley:     Appearance  and  Reality. 

"  The  same  thing  which  arises  in  my  consciousness  as 
sensation,  idea,  or  feeling  would  manifest  itself  in  the  per- 
ception of  the  external  senses  as  a  physical  process  in  my 
body." — Paulsen,  Immanuel  Kant,  page  251. 

"  Bodies  in  space  are  nothing  but  objectified  perceptions. 
.  .  .  The  corporeal  world  is  merely  the  construction  of  the 
understanding." — Paulsen,  Immanuel  Kant,  page    141. 

11  Christian  Science  explains  all  cause  and  effect  as  mental, 
not  physical." — Science  and  Health. 

2  Deussen:     The  Elements  of  Metaphysics,  page  115. 


A  STATEMENT  OF  IDEALISM        81 

ger,  thirst,  pleasure,  pain,  etc.)-"3  "  Our  body  is 
just  this  undivided  will,  as  it  appears  through  the 
forms  of  our  intellect."  4 

These  so-called  material  objects,  then, —  these 
stars,  clouds,  trees,  houses,  and  even  our  own  bodies, 
—  are  not  made  of  a  "  solid  something,  called  mat- 
ter." This  external  world,  if  the  Idealists'  stand- 
point is  true,  is  not  what  people  in  general  think 
it  is,  but  is,  in  fact,  a  thought  world  which  appears 
to  us  as  material.  Take  away  these  thoughts,  and 
their  material  projections, —  this  physical  world, — 
would  no  longer  appear. 

In  order  to  make  clear  the  Idealist's  interpretation 
of  events,  let  us  tell  the  one  story  of  Pelleas  et 
Melisande  in  two  ways,  and  first  in  the  usual  and 
most  popular  way. 

Golaud,  while  hunting  in  the  forest,  meets  a  weep- 
ing maiden  at  the  edge  of  a  fountain  in  which  she 
has  lost  her  crown.  Golaud  weds  the  mysterious 
Melisande,  although  he  is  much  older  than  she. 
The  home  to  which  he  takes  her  is  dark  and  gloomy. 
The  forest  is  so  wild  and  old  with  trees  that  the  sky 

8  Deussen:     The  Elements  of  Metaphysics,  page  106. 
4Deussen:     The  Elements  of  Metaphysics,  page  116. 


82  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

is  hidden.  Melisande  loses  her  wedding  ring  while 
playing  with  it.  She  falls  in  love  with  Pelleas. 
Her  husband  kills  Pelleas  and  wounds  Melisande, 
who  dies  in  a  few  weeks. 

Such  a  description  dwells  upon  what  happened 
outwardly ,  what  was  done  and  how  things  looked, 
rather  than  what  was  felt  and  thought.  This  way 
of  describing  a  situation  is  perhaps  the  one  best 
known  to  all  of  us.  Take  a  day  in  our  own  lives, 
and,  in  describing  it,  we  talk  of  what  we  did,  what 
we  saw,  what  the  thermometer  said;  —  that  is,  we 
dwell  as  a  rule  upon  the  outward  features  of  the 
day's  happenings. 

But  there  is  another  way  of  describing  a  day's  do- 
ings. Let  us  still  use  the  story  of  Melisande  to 
illustrate  this  other  way.  It  is  a  certain  form  of 
idealism  which  teaches  that  the  half-light  in  and 
about  Melisande's  home  is  but  an  appearance,  the 
essence  of  which  is  Melisande's  own  half-awakened 
mind, —  a  mind  which  is  incapable  of  grasping  the 
truth.  It  teaches  that  the  terrors  of  the  wood  are 
but  the  images  of  Melisande's  own  inner  fears,  and 
the  loss  of  her  bright  crown  but  the  outer  sign  that 
all  her  inner  light  was  gone :  —  the  light  that  told 
her  right  from  wrong,  the  light  that  makes  for  keep- 


A  STATEMENT  OF  IDEALISM        83 

ing  faith,  for  living  truly,  for  caring  for  the  welfare 
and  the  happiness  of  others.  This  idealism 
would  explain  that  Melisande's  temperament,  like 
Ophelia's,  did  not  "  couple  with  her  fate  "  to  make 
her  life  such  a  tragedy;  but  that  fate  was  her  tem- 
perament, only  it  failed  to  appear  as  such  to  eyes, 
to  ears,  to  any  one  of  the  physical  senses. 

Such  a  description  is  concerned  with  the  mental 
states  in  a  situation,  and  should  we  describe  a  day 
in  our  lives  in  this  way,  we  should  not  dwell  upon 
the  fact  of  having  a  dinner  party,  but  rather  should 
we  say:  "  I  wanted  so  much  to  see  my  friends,  and 
wishing  to  give  them  pleasure,"  etc. ;  that  is,  we 
should  describe  the  day's  happenings  by  telling  what 
we  thought  and  felt,  the  ideas  in  the  situation  being 
counted  as  essentially  interesting. 

Idealism,  then,  really  means  that  thought  is  the 
essence  of  everything  that  becomes  apparent  to  us. 
This  outer  world,  the  one  that  appears,  is,  after  all, 
only  the  way  in  which  thoughts  become  apparent  to 
us, —  is  their  projection.  Our  homes,  our  friends, 
our  clothes,  our  incomes,  our  sickness,  our  health, 
our  relations, —  all  of  these  things  which  in  the  case 
of  each  one  of  us  are  called  "  our  circumstances," 
—  what  are  they  but  the  outward  appearances  or 


84  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

projections  of  our  thoughts?  Under  all  circum- 
stances, says  Idealism,  that  which  appears  to  us, — 
whether  a  friend,  a  trip  to  Europe,  or  a  world  war, — 
is  but  the  manifestation  of  processes  of  thought 
which  are  going  on  in  consciousness,  and  of  which  we 
are  often  unconscious. 

One  is  tempted  to  challenge  the  reality  or  actuality 
of  thoughts  which  make  for  a  material  world,  a 
world  of  such  questionable  value;  where  sorrow, 
failure,  sickness,  pain,  and  death  play  so  large  a 
part.  The  validity ,  however,  of  any  thought  world 
depends  upon  its  thinker.  Thus  one  must  ask: 
"  Who  thinks  these  thoughts  which  appear  as  the 
material  world?"  Kant  answers:  "The  external 
world  that  we  know  is,  then,  the  world  not  of  dead 
outer  things,  but  of  human  thoughts."  "  Kant  had 
proved  that  the  three  main  pillars  of  nature, —  time, 
space  and  causality, —  are  nothing  but  the  subjective 
forms  of  our  intellect"  5'6  "Space  and  time  ap- 
pear to  us  to  belong  outside  us  merely  because  they 
are  conditions  in  us  of  our  seeing  and  feeling  things, 
forms  of  our  [finite]  sense.     It  is  with  them  as  with 

5  Deussen  :     The  Elements  of  Metaphysics,  page  64. 

6  The  word  "  intellect  "  is  used  in  the  sense  of  Kant's 
Empirical  Ego  or  Common  Understanding. 


A  STATEMENT  OF  IDEALISM        85 

coloured  spectacles.  If  one  always  wore  green  gog- 
gles, all  his  world  would  seem  green  to  him."  7 

The  finite  sense  is  the  source  of  the  finite*  It 
is  the  thoughts  of  the  finite  sense  that  present  to 
us  the  physical  world  in  which  we  seem  to  live. 
This  finite  sense  corresponds  to  the  green  goggles 
which  make  the  world  look  green  to  those  who  wear 
them.  As  one  realises  the  significance  of  this  ideal- 
ism, a  door  opens  in  his  mind  and  he  becomes  pos- 
sessed with  a  growing  suspicion  that  perhaps  there 
really  isn't  any  physical  world  out  there  at  all.  Can 
it  really  be  true  "  that  what  we  call  [physical]  Na- 
ture, all  outside  ourselves,  is  but  our  own  conceit  of 
what  we  see,"  and  that,  merely  because  of  the 
11  make  "  of  the  finite  sense,  we  may  be  deceived  in 
believing  that  we  and  others  have  a  physical  nature, 
subject  to  physical  laws  and  a  physical  environment? 
We  begin  to  see  what  the  philosophers  mean  when 
they  speak  of  the  "  phantom  forms  "  of  space,  time, 
and  sense,  and  use  such  expressions  as  "  in  this  show 
world  of  our  limitation  and  ignorance." 

Our  feeling  of  doubt  grows ;  the  new  door  into  the 
unknown  opens  wider;  possibilities,  undreamed  of 

7Royce:     Spirit  of  Modern  Philosophy,  page  124-25. 
8  See  notes  on  page  89. 


86  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

before,  begin  to  dawn  upon,  but  serve  only  to  vex 
and  perplex,  us.  We  dread  to  take  a  step  in  any 
direction.  And,  indeed,  where  shall  we  stay,  where 
shall  we  go, —  for  no  longer  have  we  a  sure  foot- 
hold upon  what  once  seemed  so  substantial,  and  as 
yet  no  other  reality  has  appeared  to  take  its  place? 
But  unless  we  have  the  courage  and  faith  to  pass 
beyond  our  old  landmarks,  we  shall  never  be  able 
to  enter  into  that  real  world  in  which,  alone,  the 
problems  of  life  find  their  solution. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

TWO  TYPES  OF  IDEALISTS 

Let  us  decide,  therefore,  in  the  spirit  of  individual 
quest  and  high  adventure,  to  follow  the  new  thought 
path  opening  before  us.  It  may  seem  beset  with 
perils,  but  perhaps  it  may  lead  to  heights  above  us 
from  which  we  may  discern  more  truth.  In  obedi- 
ence to  this  resolution,  let  us  look  upon  the  physical 
world  as  constituted  of  finite  thoughts,  and  the  ques- 
tion will  then  present  itself:  Is  this  finite  sense 
solely  responsible  for  the  physical  world?  That  is, 
isn't  the  material  world  there  at  all,  apart  from  this 
finite,  so-called  mind?  In  answer  to  this  question, 
certain  types  of  idealists  would  assure  us  that  the 
thoughts  behind  the  material  world  are  in  the  di- 
vine Mind,  too, —  are  in  Spirit.  As  when  Berkeley 
says :  "  Whose  language,  then,  am  I  reading  in  the 
world  before  me?  Whose  ideas  are  those  that  ex- 
perience impresses  upon  me?     Are  they  not  God's 

87 


88  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

ideas?     Is  it  not  His  language  that  I  read  in  na- 
ture?"1 

There  is,  however,  another  type  of  idealist,  of 
which  the  Christian  Scientist  is  an  example.  These 
spiritual  idealists  also  grant  that  what  is  called  the 
material  world  is,  in  essence,  a  conception  of  the 
finite,  so-called  sense;  but  on  the  other  hand  they 
maintain  that  God  could  not  possess  a  finite  mind  or 
think  finite  thoughts,  neither  could  He  accept  from 
us  a  finite  thought  as  the  right  answer  to  any  ques- 
tion.2 Therefore,  when  they  assert  that  the 
thoughts  underlying  material  appearances  are  finite, 
they  mean  that  the  so-called  source  of  such  thoughts 
is  entirely  within  the  material,  finite  circle  of  things. 

1  "  After  all,  then,  would  it  deprive  the  world  here  about 
me  of  reality,  nay,  would  it  not  rather  save  and  assure  the 
reality  and  the  knowableness  of  my  world  of  experience,  if 
I  said  that  this  world,  as  it  exists  outside  of  my  mind  and 
of.  any  other  human  mind,  exists  in  and  for  a  standard,  an 
universal  mind,  whose  system  of  ideas  simply  constitutes 
the  world?  ...  If  the  standard  mind  knows  now  that  its 
ideal  fire  has  the  quality  of  burning  those  who  touch  it,  and 
if  I,  in  my  finitude,  am  bound  to  conform  in  my  experiences 
to  the  thoughts  of  this  standard  mind,  then  in  case  I  touch 
that  fire  I  shall  surely  get  the  idea  of  a  burn." — Josiah 
Royce:     The  Spirit  of  Modern  Philosophy,  page  361. 

2  See  Notes  on  the  Real  World,  pages  III,  112. 


TWO  TYPES  OF  IDEALISTS  89 

They  mean  that  there  is  no  material  world  apart 
from  the  finite  so-called  mentality,  with  its  way  of 
looking  at  things  and  putting  them  together;3  that 
there  isn't  anything  u  yonder  that  corresponds  in 
fact  to  this  series  of  experiences  "  in  us.  Quite 
definitely  one  sees  that  they  disagree  with  the  ideal- 
ist who  would  interpret  this  physical  nature  as  "  in 
essence  itself,  a  system  of  ideal  experiences  of  some 
standard  thought,  of  which  ours  is  only  the  copy." 

To  our  early  and  somewhat  inadequate  character- 
isation of  the  finite,  physical  world,  Idealism  has 
added  the  fact  of  its  being  a  thought  world.  Now 
a  certain  kind  of  Idealism  reveals  it  as  composed 
entirely  of  finite,  material  thoughts.  Therefore, 
from  its  point  of  view,  should  we  wish  to  escape 
from  the  desolate  cage  into  which  we  are  thrown 

3 "  These  things,  bodies,  are  not  things-in-themselves. 
They  are  real  as  phenomena  only,  for  a  perceiving  subject. 
Without  any  subject  at  all,  without  the  content  of  its  sensa- 
tions and  the  forms  of  its  perception,  we  should  never  talk 
at  all  about  bodies  and  their  reality." — Paulsen:  Im- 
manuel  Kant,  page  238. 

"  Space  and  time  .  .  .  are  the  conditions  prior  to  all 
physical  nature.  And  now  space  and  time  can  thus  be  found 
to  be  unreal  outside  of  our  minds." — Royce:  Spirit  of 
Modern  Philosophy,  page  124. 


9o  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

by  this  finite,  physical  world,  we  now  know  that  it 
is  not  only  with  thoughts  that  we  have  to  cope,  but 
with  material  thoughts. 

The  fact  that  sorrow  and  lack,  sickness  and  sin, 
are  finite  thoughts  and  their  material  appearances, 
would  not  keep  us  from  having  these  thoughts,  and 
so  from  being  sad,  poor,  sick,  and  sinful.  Neither 
would  the  fact  that  such  thoughts  are  the  fabrication 
of  the  finite  intellect,  in  itself  offer  us  a  way  of  es- 
cape. If,  however,  these  finite  thoughts  are  not 
God's  ideas  and  therefore  another  reality,  His 
reality,  can  be  found,  in  the  light  of  which  this  finite 
sense  and  its  thoughts  are  seen  to  be  unreal;  then 
will  the  way  of  escape  be  plain. 

But  how  can  the  spiritual  Idealist  hope  to  prove 
to  us  that  God's  reality  is  such  another  reality;  and 
this  finite  sense,  therefore,  not  a  real  mind;  and  the 
things  it  tells  us  not  really  so?  For  even  if  it  were 
true  that  this  physical  nature  is,  as  they  say,  "  just 
a  conception  of  mine  "  and  "  no  outer  fact  at  all," 
and  thus  without  any  material  sense  one  would  never 
talk  at  all  about  bodies  and  their  realities,  why 
should  that  give  us  hope  that  this  physical  world  is 
an  illusion?  Why  doesn't  just  our  thinking  with 
the  brain  make  a  thing  real?     Why  does  a  thing 


TWO  TYPES  OF  IDEALISTS  91 

have  to  be  thought  outside  of  finite  sense  in  order 
to  make  it  real?  But  even  if  it  must,  why  isn't  this 
sense  thinking  things,  as  they  are  thought  outside 
of  us;  why  isn't  it  given  to  us,  if  not  to  create,  at 
least  to  see  things  as  they  are  created?  Why  not 
go  farther,  and  instead  of  using  the  term  "  finite 
sense,"  why  not  call  it  "  God  talking  to  us  in  the 
language  of  the  sense,"  as  Berkeley  puts  it;  or,  in 
the  idiom  of  the  constructive  idealist,  why  aren't 
these  "  intellectual  ideas  at  least  a  part  of  that  sys- 
tem of  ideas  which  is  held  by  the  universal  Mind, 
and  therefore  an  aspect  of  reality  "? 

Or  to  go  to  the  other  extreme,  suppose  the  finite 
intellect  to  be  destitute  of  all  organs  for  the  com- 
prehension and  conception  of  the  spiritual;  why, 
upon  that  ground,  quarrel  with  its  message?  Nay, 
more;  since  it  cannot  tell  us  of  a  world  in  which  it 
and  its  message  are  superfluous,  why  isn't  that  in 
itself  sufficient  proof  of  there  being  no  such  world? 

In  spite,  however,  of  all  this  plausible  pleading  on 
the  part  of  the  finite  intellect,  or  sense,  our  hearts 
still  long,  say  the  spiritual  idealists,  for  a  Reality 
which,  by  its  nature,  excludes  the  finite,  the  physical. 

But  does  a  mere  longing  justify  us  in  drawing 
Deussen's  conclusion  that  "  since  time  and  space  are 


92  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

only  functions  originating  in  the  intellect,  they  are 
not  external  truths  ";  or  in  asserting  with  Kant  that 
we  have  "  made  room  for  another  order  of  things  " 
when  once  we  have  demonstrated  that  infinite  space, 
infinite  time,  and  infinite  causality  are  but  subjective 
forms  of  our  perceiving. 

No;  a  mere  longing  cannot  carry  one  so  far,  but 
—  and  here  is  an  end  to  all  our  questioning  —  these 
spiritual  idealists  hear  a  voice,  and  it  is  not  the  voice 
of  the  finite  u  mind."  Moreover,  this  voice  is 
more  than  a  longing.  It  tells  in  detail  of  an  order 
and  how  to  reach  it,  which  is  not  the  physical  order 
and  which  contradicts  its  pretensions.4,5 

4  Kant  wanted  to  find  the  world  of  true  being,  the  real 
world;  and  in  1770  he  made  a  new  attempt  to  discern  the 
method  by  which  this  real  world  ("  mundus  intelligibilis") 
might  be  found.  This  attempt  resulted  in  the  conviction 
that  "  by  means  of  pure  concepts  of  the  understanding  it  is 
possible  to  reach  a  pure  intelligible  reality  that  is  free  from 
the  conditions  of  sensibility." — Paulsen:  Doctrines  of 
Kant ,  page  283. 

Too  little  credit  is  given  to  Kant  for  his  conception  of 
the  real  world  and  the  real  man  or  selfhood. 

5  The  founder  of  Christian  Science  was  also  concerned 
with  the  Reality  beyond  the  physical,  finite  world.  Her 
spiritual  or  "  intuitive  "  understanding,  went  so  far  as  to 
find  and  state  laws  of  knowing  or  thinking  by  which  each  of 


TWO  TYPES  OF  IDEALISTS  93 

In  such  hearing  and  seeing  lies  our  hope  of  escape 
from  this  whole  physical  and  finite  order  of  things. 
When  this  divine  voice  made  itself  felt  only  as  a 
longing,  we  still  listened  to  the  voice  of  the  finite 
mentality,  and  allowed  it  to  dictate  so-called  laws 
of  belief  to  us.  But  the  divine  Voice  or  conscious- 
ness has  now  spoken,  in  unmistakable  terms,  to  the 
spiritual  Idealist.  He  has  become  aware  of  the 
spiritual  consciousness  as  having  authority,  and  sees 
that  only  as  it  awakes  and  unfolds  to  its  fullest  shall 
he  come  to  know  those  truths  which  are  unplombed 
by  the  finite  intellect,  which  are  unknown  to  finite 
feelings,  and  which  will  save  him  from  both. 

Those  of  us  who  entered  upon  the  study  of  Ideal- 
ism for  the  sake  of  ridding  ourselves  of  the  finite, 
may  rejoice  that  so  early  in  our  course  we  may  be 
led  by  a  type  of  idealist  which  denies  God's  author- 
ship of  the  finite.  This  is  the  first  step  in  the  right 
direction.  Let  us  now  follow  the  way,  the  thought 
path,  of  these  mystic  or  spiritual  Idealists,  and  make 
it  our  own.  It  is  mystical,  but  not  mysterious. 
Having   arrived   at  understanding   for  themselves, 

us  may  voluntarily  unfold  his  consciousness  of  the  Real, 
and,  in  proportion  to  this  unfolding,  may  make  the  Real 
appear  in  his  daily  life. 


94  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

they  can  give  to  us  that  which  we  may  understand. 
Their  "  way "  is  given  in  detail  in  the  following 
three  chapters. 


Ill 

THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  WAY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL 
IDEALIST 

THE  DIVINE  MIND  WAY 

Spiritual  Idealism,  in  its  highest  development,  de- 
fines the  Real  and  teaches  us  how  to  lay  hold  of  it. 
It  defines  evil.  It  has  rediscovered  and  formulated 
the  laws  which  make  for  the  overcoming  of  evil  as 
well  as  for  the  maintenance  of  good. 

i.     OUR  DIVINE  KNOWING  POWER 

Before  the  spiritual  Idealist  begins  to  lead  our 
thoughts  out  of  the  old  paths  into  the  new,  he  makes 
it  clear  that  there  is  a  way  for  thoughts  to  come  to 
us,  a  way  of  knowing,  other  than  by  the  finite  in- 
tellect. This  is  not  a  new  fact  to  most  of  us;  and 
our  study  of  mystic  experiences,  Chapter  V,  revealed 
anew  our  higher  knowing  power  and  gave  us  a 
glimpse  into  its  higher  world.  But  the  spiritual 
Idealist  would  have  us  dwell  upon  the  truth  of  this 

97 


98  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

knowing  power,  which  is  distinct  from  the  finite,1 
lest  we  become  blind  to  it  and  the  priceless  signifi- 
cance of  our  possession  of  it. 

As  soon  as  the  spiritual  Idealist  has  pointed  out 
to  us  the  truth  of  a  power  to  know,  other  and  higher 
than  the  finite  intellect,  he  calls  it  divine,  and  claims 
that  it  is  the  knowing  power  which  Paul  names  the 
"  mind  of  Christ  " ;  that  same  "  mind  "  which  is 
operative  in  all  the  transports  of  the  spiritually  in- 
tuitive, which  the  founder  of  Christian  Science  has 
brought  into  conscious  and  efficient  operation,  and 
of  which  Christ  Jesus  was  the  supreme  embodiment. 

Thus  the  spiritual  idealist  would  have  us  see  that 

1  "  Our  cognitive  faculty  has  two  realms,  that  of  natural 
concepts  and  that  of  the  concept  of  freedom." — Kant: 
Kritik  of  Judgment,  Introduction,  page  10. 

The  empirical  ego  is  that  for  which  bodies  are  real.  .  .  . 
It  is  a  "  presupposition  of  the  possibility  of  the  corporeal 
world,  which  is  a  product  of  its  activity.  .  .  .  That  is  the 
one  aspect.  The  same  subject  has,  however,  still  another 
side,  .  .  .  practical  reason ;  and  the  moral  law  is  the  form 
of  its  functioning.  .  .  .  And  here  we  have  reality  itself, 
as  it  is  in  itself.  .  .  .  Reason  is  just  homo  noumenon." — 
Paulsen:     Immanuel  Kant,  pages  248-9. 

u  Thus  the  reason  which  thinks  and  realises  ideas,  leads 
beyond  the  spatial  and  temporal  world  of  phenomena  to  an 
ideal  eternal  reality." — Paulsen:  Immanuel  Kant,  page 
284. 


WAY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST      99 

not  only  a  divine  power  to  know  is  expressing  itself 
in  us,  but  that  the  whole  infinite  Mind  is  accessible 
to  each  of  us,  for  this  Mind  images  itself  in  the  in- 
dividual consciousness  as  a  divine  power  to  know,  to 
love,  and  to  act,  apart  from  the  finite.2  This  type 
of  Idealist  dwells  primarily  upon  our  divine  power 
to  know,  and  upon  the  necessity  of  our  becoming 
awake  to  this  power,  because  we  have  talked  a  good 
deal  about  divine  loving  as  something  to  which  we 
should  strive  to  attain;  and  have  also  been  alive  to 
divine  acting,  or  being  good,  as  a  duty  and  as  within 
our  power.  But  we  have  not  yet  realised  with  the 
force  we  might,  say  the  spiritual  idealists,  that  each 
of  us  is  a  divine  capacity,  which  is  ever  operating  to 
be  conscious  of  Life's  knowing,  loving,  and  acting. 
This  means,  upon  our  part,  consciousness  of  the 
truth,  loving  that  of  which  we  are  conscious,  and 
putting  it  into  action  or  expressing  it.  Thus  the 
spiritual  idealist  would  lead  us  out  of  the  realm  of 
mystery  into  the  realm  of  spiritual  understanding.3 

2  The  eastern  sages  point  to  the  Will  to  life  which  makes 
for  this  varied  world  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  denial 
of  the  Will  to  life  which  expresses  itself  in  self-denying  deeds 
of  morality,  belonging  to  another  realm  from  that  of  the 
physical. 

3  "  Mystery,  miracle,  sin  and  death  will  disappear  when 


ioo  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

Although  Jesus  explained  that  the  truth  would 
make  us  free,  and  although  we  are  in  dire  need  of 
such  a  remedy  for  evil,  still  we  have  not  held  the 
knowing  of  the  truth  to  be  a  duty,  but  have  ever 
been  satisfied  with  mystery,  with  a  realm  into  which 
we  did  not  try  to  enter;  or,  having  set  out  to 
win  knowledge,  have  doomed  ourselves  to  failure 
by  losing  sight  of  the  fact, —  which  the  Bible  tells 
us,  which  Kant  and  the  Christian  Scientists  teach, — 
that  the  power  to  know  the  truth,  as  well  as  to  love 
and  act  truly,  is  a  spiritual  power,  inherent  in  the 
real  man. 

2.    THE  REAL  MAN 

As  soon  as  the  spiritual  Idealist  has  brought  into 
relief  the  Christ  mind  activity,  he  calls  it  the  activity 
which  belongs  to  the  Real  man.  Such  a  man  we 
may  characterise  in  the  following  way: 

He  is  a  member  of  a  supersensible  order.  His 
origin  is  God,  Mind.  He  is  an  individual  capacity 
for  knowing,  loving  and  expressing  the  truth,  and 
this  capacity  is  always  operating.  At  any  given 
moment  he  is  knowing  the  truth,  in  all  the  forms  in 

it  becomes  fairly  understood  that  the  divine  Mind  controls 
man  and  man  has  no  Mind  but  God." —  Science  and  Health, 
page  319. 


WAY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  IbgAtfeT     101 

which  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  know  it,  and  has 
full  power  and  freedom  to  realise  and  to  manifest 
this  truth  of  which  he  is  conscious.  Thus  all  his 
needs  are  supplied.  He  is  becoming  more  and 
more  conscious  all  the  time  of  Mind  and  Mind's 
ideas,  and  is  manifesting  this  in  an  ever  unfolding 
consciousness.  He  does  not  see  things  through  ma- 
terial sense;  his  perception  is  spiritual.  Being  an 
idea  of  God,  he  is  necessarily  a  moral  being;  is  con- 
cerned with  "  right  and  the  best  way  " ;  has  a  good 
will;  has  a  consciousness  of  duty,  of  vocation,  a 
sense  of  fitness,  beauty,  and  justice.  He  is  space- 
less and  timeless,  a  pure  reflection  of  Spirit,  and  is, 
therefore,  free  from  the  mechanism  of  the  so-called 
physical  universe  and  its   so-called  laws. 

3.     CHRIST  JESUS  REPRESENTS  THE  REAL  MAN 

But  the  spiritual  Idealist  does  not  have  to  con- 
tent himself  with  the  mere  ideal  of  what  the  real 
man  should  be.  Jesus  was  born  again  and  of  the 
Spirit,  and  could  see  the  kingdom  of  heaven  (John 
3:3,  5).  Through  his  true  self-realisation,  the  real 
Man  in  his  instance  appeared,  and  was  recognised 
by  illumined  sense  as  the  Son  of  God  (Matthew 
16:  16)  ;  as  having  no  sin  ( Hebrews  4 :  1 5 )  ;  as  hav- 


102  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

ing  life  in  Himself  as  the  Father  had  (John  5  :  26). 
And  although  He  could  do  nothing  of  Himself 
(John  5:19  and  30) ,  He  could  do  whatsoever  things 
the  Father  doeth  (John  5  :  19),  for  in  Him  dwelleth 
all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily  (Colossians 
2:9).  Christ  Jesus  was  the  expression  of  the  di- 
vine law  and  nature.  He  had  overcome  the  world 
(John  16:  33),  and  was  no  more  in  the  world  (John 
17:  11).  He  had  power  over  the  flesh,  and  could 
give  eternal  life  to  others  (John  17:  2).  There 
was  truth  in  Him   (John   1:   17),  and  eternal  life 

(John  15:6). 

• 

4.     IN  OUR  REAL  NATURES  WE  ALSO  REPRESENT 
THE  GENUS  MAN 

Wishing  to  reveal  man's  real  nature  to  us,  Christ 
Jesus  made  clear  what  the  term  "  Son  of  God  " 
stands  for:  "  I  and  the  Father  are  one  ";  that  is, 
one  in  consciousness.  Mind  formulates  or  images 
Its  knowing,  loving,  and  acting,  in  individual  right 
consciousness,  qualitatively,  not  quantitatively. 
That  is,  an  individual  consciousness  in  which  God  is 
knowing,  loving,  and  acting  is  a  Son  of  God.  Then 
with  what  irresistible  yearning,  with  what  tender 
and  loving  persuasiveness,  did  He  try  to  convince 


WAY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST     103 

us  that  the  "  Son  of  God  "  was  no  term  which  ap- 
plied exclusively  to  Himself,  but  was  a  name  for  the 
real  nature  of  each  one  of  us, —  for  that  "  mind  of 
the  spirit "  which  the  Father  hath  given  to  us  and 
called  "Christ  in  you"  (Colossians  1:  27).  And 
fearing  lest  He  had  failed  in  this  which  seemed 
nearest  His  heart,  He  talked  about  it  with  His  dis- 
ciples just  before  going  away.4  Paul  knew  that  u  as 
many  as  are  led  by  the  spirit  of  God  are  the  sons  of 

4  "  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions:  if  it  were 
not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for 
you. 

"  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will  come 
again  and  receive  you  unto  myself;  that  where  I  am,  there 
ye  may  be  also. 

"  And  whither  I  go  ye  know,  and  the  way  ye  know. 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believeth  on  me, 
the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also ;  and  greater  works  than 
these  shall  he  do;  because  I  go  unto  my  Father. 

"  I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless:     I  will  come  to  you. 

"  Yet  a  little  while,  and  the  world  seeth  me  no  more;  but 
ye  see  me:  because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also. 

"  At  that  day  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in  my  Father,  and 
ye  in  me,  and  I  in  you." — John  14:  2,  3,  4,  12,  18,  19,  20. 

"  Henceforth  I  call  you  not  servants;  for  the  servant 
knoweth  not  what  his  lord  doeth:  but  I  have  called  you 
friends;  for  all  things  that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father,  I 
have  made  known  unto  you. — John  15:  15. 


104  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

God  ";  that  we  are  the  children  of  God  and  "  joint- 
heirs  with  Christ"  (Romans  8:  14-17);  and  that 
our  lives  are  hid  in  this  Christ  nature  of  ours  (Colos- 
sians  3:  3,  4). 

This  mystery  of  "  Christ  in  us  "  had  been  hid  for 
generations,  and  the  Master  came  to  reveal  it  to  us 
(Colossians  1 :  26,  27),  came  to  tell  each  one  of  us 
that  He  is  a  Son  of  God,  and  a  Son  of  God  now 
(I  John  3 :  1,  2),  and  that  God  has  given  to  us  this 
divine  nature  which  can  never  change  or  die  (I  John 
5:  11,  12)  or  sin  (I  John  5:  18).  We  dwell  in 
Him  and  He  in  us  5  because  He  hath  given  us  of  His 
Spirit  (I  John  4:  13). 

The  possession  of  the  Christ  nature  means  that 
spiritual  thought  activities  constitute  our  true  self- 
hood; that  we  are  capacities  for  knowing  and  mani- 
festing the  truth,  and  these  capacities  are  always  in 
operation.  Therefore,  being  truth  knowing  capac- 
ities just  as  Christ  Jesus  was,  we  can  know  the  same 
truths  which  He  knew,  have  the  same  work  to  do 

5  The  Spiritual  Idealist  interprets  this  passage  as  meaning 
that  we  are  in  God  as  Ideas  must  be  in  the  Mind  that  thinks 
them ;  while  "  He  is  in  us,"  means  that  His  knowing,  loving, 
and  acting  functions  are  imaged  in  us. 


WAY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST     105 

and  the  same  power  to  do  it  which  was  manifested 
in  him.      (John,  Chapters  14,  15,  16,  17.) 

5.  EACH  INDIVIDUAL  MUST  COME  TO  A  REALISATION 
OF  THE  CHRIST  IN  HIMSELF.  THE  PROGRESS  IN 
THIS  REALISATION  MADE  BY  THE  SPIRITUAL 
IDEALIST 

The  spiritual  idealist  has  already  arrived  at  the 
point  where  he  realises  that  every  Son  of  Man  be- 
longs to  a  supersensuous  world,  and  such  knowing 
involves  a  distinction  between  his  true  self  and  the 
mortal,  sensuous  personality.  He  realises  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  the  worth  of  the  spiritual,  and  looks  upon 
the  physical  body  as  necessarily  allied  to  the  sensu- 
ous, and  so  at  variance  with  the  pure  and  spiritual 
life.  He  knows  that  the  real  laws  are  not  based 
upon  matter  and  its  changes,  and  not  upon  that  men- 
tality which  argues  for  the  truth  of  this  matter  and 
its  changes. 

The  spiritual  Idealist  has  a  conception  of  the  In- 
finite, of  the  unconditioned,  of  God.  He  thinks  of 
God  as  the  sum  total  of  reality;  as  an  intelligible  be- 
ing; as  a  universal,  all-inclusive  spiritual  conscious- 
ness or  Mind;  as  Life.  He  realises  to  some  ex- 
tent his   freedom  under  the  government  of  divine 


io6  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

law.  In  so  far  as  he  does  all  this,  he  contradicts 
the  finite  and  reaches  out  beyond  any  arbitrary  limit. 
He  does  not  yield  to  the  order  of  things  as  they  ap- 
pear, but  acts  with  spiritual  spontaneity,  determining 
his  own  course.  Asserting  himself  in  opposition  to 
the  dictates  of  material  sense,  he  obeys  spiritual  law. 
Thus  do  spiritual  Idealists,  though  in  smaller  meas- 
ure, make  the  Son  of  God  appear,  even  as  did  Christ 
Jesus.6 

6.     GOD  THE  FATHER,  THE  SOURCE  OF  HIS  SONS 

A  Son  of  God  is  not  the  Source  of  himself;  God 
is  his  Source.7      Christ  Jesus  is  ever  referring  to  the 

6  In  the  foregoing  characterisations,  pages  100-106,  I 
have,  in  many  instances,  used  Kant's  words  or  those  of  his 
commentators,  finding  them  of  service  in  making  my  meaning 
clear. 

7  M  He  [God]  determines  reality  by  his  thought." — 
Paulsen:     Doctrine   of  Kant,   page    151. 

"  Kant's  view  of  the  nature  of  what  is  '  actually  real ' 
remained  unaltered  throughout  his  life.  Reality  is  in  itself 
a  system  of  existing  thought  —  essences  brought  into  a  unity 
by  teleological  relations  that  are  intuitively  thought  by  the 
divine  Intellect,  and  by  this  very  act  of  thought  posited  as 
real." — Paulsen. 

"  God  creates  and  governs  the  universe,  including  man. 
The  universe  is  filled  with  spiritual  ideas,  which  He  evolves, 


WAY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST     107 

Father  from  whom  He  came  forth  (John  16:  28), 
without  whom  He  could  do  nothing  (John  5  :  19). 

Also,  the  highest  experiences  of  the  spiritual  ideal- 
ists are  those  which  are  "  selfless,"  with  "  no  feeling 
of  I,"  but  in  which  God  is  the  all  in  all.  In  the 
light  of  such  experiences  the  true,  spiritual  mystic, 
the  Son  of  God,  knows  that  God  is  the  Mind  of  him, 
the  Self.  He  is  an  individual,  spiritual  conscious- 
ness; an  activity  in  and  of  Mind.  God  is  the  Source 
of  true  being  only.8  To  the  highest  mystic  ideal- 
ists, then,  and  to  Christ  Jesus,  the  greatest  of  them 
all,  there  is  only  one  Mind  or  independent  Self,  and 
that  is  God.  That  which,  according  to  Paul,  we 
call  the  M  mind  of  Christ  "  is  the  activity  of  divine 

and  they  are  obedient  to  the  Mind  that  makes  them." — 
Science  and  Health,  page  295. 

8  "  God  is  the  supramundane  principle  by  means  of  which 
the  ■  nature  of  things,' —  existing  ideas,  or  things-in-them- 
selves, —  are  posited.  Obviously,  this  does  not  include 
bodies,  which  are  nothing  but  the  representation  of  things  in 
our  sense-perception.  That  which  God  creates  is  the  in- 
telligible world,  the  world  of  noumena." — Paulsen,  Im- 
manuel  Kant,  page  262. 

"  This  differentiation  of  God  from  the  world  —  not  from 
the  corporeal  world  of  phenomena  which  does  not  exist  at 
all  for  Him  — .  .  ." — Paulsen,  Immanuel  Kant,  pages 
262-3. 


108  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

Mind  imaged.     Man  is  always  an  effect;  there  are 
no  "  secondary  causes." 

7.     THE  GOD  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST 

Can  we  form  any  concept  of  this  God  whose  off- 
spring we  are,  in  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have 
our  being  (Acts  17:  28),  who  is  our  Father  and 
Jesus  Christ's  Father  (John  20:  17),  and  so  know 
more  about  ourselves  and  all  things? 

We  can,  says  the  Spiritual  Idealist,  because  the 
Christ  idea  is  always  with  us,  and  it  is  an  understand- 
ing of  God.  (I  John  5:20.)  Jesus  Christ  said, 
"  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father " 
(John  14:  9).9     Spiritual  Idealists  translate  Christ's 

9  ■■  No  such  discoursive  understanding  as  the  human  un- 
derstanding is  attributable  to  God,  since  he  has  no  sense 
perception  to  which  objects  are  given,  but  only  an  intuitive 
understanding  '  which  posits  things  by  means  of  its  think- 
ing."—  Paulsen,  Immanuel  Kant,  page  267. 

11  God,  as  the  absolutely  transcendent  being,  could  natur- 
ally have  only  intelligible  reality,  the  reality  of  a  thought 
entity,  or  an  idea." —  Paulsen,  Immanuel  Kant,  page  222. 

"  The  indestructible  faculties  of  Spirit  exist  without  the 
conditions  of  matter  and  also  without  the  false  beliefs  of  a 
so-called  material  existence." — Science  and  Health,  page  162. 

11  Spirit  is  not  materially  tangible." — Science  and  Health, 
page  78. 

"God  is  what  the  scriptures  declare  him  to  be:  —  Life, 
Truth,  Love." —  Science  and  Health,  page  330. 


WAY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST     109 

sayings  in  terms  of  Mind  and  its  ideas :  Jesus  cried 
and  said,  "  He  that  believeth  on  me,  believeth  not 
on  me,  but  on  Him  that  sent  me  "  (John  12:  44). 
If  ye  had  known  me,  ye  should  have  known  my 
Father  also;  and  from  henceforth  ye  know  Him 
and  have  seen  Him"   (John  14:  7). 

John  tells  us  that  God  hath  life  in  Himself;  that 
God  is  love  (I  John  4:8);  that  He  is  a  Spirit  (John 
4:  24)  ;  and  that  Spirit  is  truth  (I  John  $:  6)  :  that 
"  God  is  light,  and  in  him  is  no  darkness  at  all " 
(I  John  1:5). 

8.    THE  REAL  WORLD  TO  WHICH  THE  REAL  MAN 
BELONGS 

There  is  a  real  world  order  to  which  the  real  man 
belongs.  It  is  composed  of  all  the  spiritual  activi- 
ties of  divine  Mind.  This  real  world  is  defined  as 
free  from  the  physical  sense  world  with  its  natural 
phenomena,  governed  by  natural  law.  The  new- 
born mystic  sees  the  real,  spiritual  world,  but  not 
with  his  eyes;  hears  it,  but  not  with  his  ears;  knows 
what  it  is  like,  but  is  not  indebted  to  the  finite  rea- 
son for  the  vision  which,  nevertheless,  he  believes  to 
be  true.  He  sees  individual  beings  in  it,  having 
form  and  colour,  but  does  not  see  material  objects. 


no  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

His  real  world  has  no  sorrow  in  it,  no  sin,  no  evil, 
and  all  needs  are  supplied. 

Should  this  mystic  try  to  picture  the  beauty  of  his 
real  world,  Tennyson's  mystical  city  "  with  nothing 
in  it  saving  the  King,"  the  "  King  who  could  not 
brook  a  lie,"  pricks  through  the  mist.  With  Gareth 
and  his  friends  he  sees  at  times  the  summit  of  the 
high  city  flash,  at  times  its  spires  and  turrets,  and 
hears  the  music  to  which  it  is  always  building. 
Now  he  seems  about  to  enter  the  great  gate  and, 
anon,  the  whole  fair  city  disappears. 

St.  John's  description  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem 
also  comes  to  him. 

"  And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth:  for 
the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away; 
and  there  was  no  more  sea. 

"  And  I,  John,  saw  the  holy  city,  new  Jerusalem, 
coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as 
a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband. 

"  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven  saying, 
Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he 
will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people, 
and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their 
God. 

"  And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their 


WAY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST     in 

eyes;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sor- 
row nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain : 
for  the  former  things  are  passed  away." — Revela- 
tions 21 :  1-4. 

"  And  they  shall  see  his  face,  and  his  name  shall 
be  in  their  foreheads. 

u  And  there  shall  be  no  night  there;  and  they 
need  no  candle,  neither  light  of  the  sun;  for  the 
Lord  God  giveth  them  light;  and  they  shall  reign 
for  ever  and  ever. 

11  And  I,  John,  saw  these  things,  and  heard  them. 
And  when  I  had  heard  and  seen,  I  fell  down  to 
worship  before  the  feet  of  the  angel  which  showed 
me  these  things."  10 — Revelations  22:  4,  5,  8. 

10  u  The  real  itself  is  an  ideal  nature.  The  intelligible 
world  is  a  system  of  concrete  ideas.  It  is  thus  thought  with 
intuitive  knowledge  by  the  absolute  understanding." — Paul- 
sen:    Immanuel  Kant,  page  248. 

"  The  notion  of  the  noumenon  we  cannot  make  real  by 
means  of  perceptual  filling." — Paulsen:  Immanuel  Kant, 
pages  154-5. 

"  Reality,  in  this  sense  of  empirical  reality,  is,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  not  attributable  to  things-in-themselves,  but  a 
supersensuous  or  transcendent  reality  is  ascribed  to  them." — 
Paulsen,  Immanuel  Kant,  page  156. 

"  There  are  things  in  themselves ;  which  exist  in  complete 
independence  of  our  representation  and  thought.     They  are 


ii2  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

not,  indeed,  given  in  [sense]  perception,  and  consequently 
empirical  reality  is  not  attributable  to  them,  like  bodies." — 
Paulsen,  Immanuel  Kant,  page  238. 

"  Space  and  time  are  merely  forms  of  our  sense-perception, 
and  as  such  belong  to  the  mundus  sensibilis.  Hence  the 
real  world  is  free  from  them." — Paulsen,  Immanuel  Kant, 
page  159. 

"  Thought  will  finally  be  understood  and  seen  in  all  form, 
substance,  and  colour,  but  without  material  accompaniments." 
— Science  and  Health,  page  310. 

"  The  universe  of  spirit  is  peopled  with  spiritual  beings." 
— Science  and  Health,  page  264. 

"  Spirit  and  its  formations  are  the  only  realities  of  Be- 
ing. Matter  disappears  under  the  microscope  of  Spirit." — 
Science  and  Health,  page  264. 


CHAPTER  X 

NATURE  OF  UNREALITY 

AS  CONCEIVED  BY  THE  SPIRITUAL 

IDEALIST 

The  foregoing  outline  of  Reality  as  understood 
by  the  spiritual  idealist  will  reveal  to  even  the  casual 
student  that  his  definition  of  Reality  —  as  God, 
Mind  and  Its  Ideas  —  excludes  a  material  order. 
To  the  true  spiritual  Idealist  this  exclusion  is  in- 
evitable on  the  ground  that  to  contain  a  thought, — 
that  is,  to  think  it, —  God,  or  Mind,  must  be  able  to 
entertain  such  a  thought;  but  Mind,  being  defined  as 
11  spiritual  and  infinite,"  can  entertain  only  its  own 
spiritual  and  infinite  ideas. 

This  is  clearly  seen  by  those  spiritual  idealists 
who  have  ever  allowed  themselves  to  become  ab- 
sorbed in  the  heavenly  vision.  To  them,  God 
could  not  be  "  an  artist,  a  poet,  who  pours  out  the 
wealth  of  His  beautiful  life  in  all  the  world  of  the 
physical  senses,"  for  their  own  spiritual  experiences 

"3 


ii4  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

reveal  the  impossibility  of  attributing  to  spiritual 
consciousness  any  material  activity.1  Thus  the  new 
order  of  mystic  reduces  the  universe  to  two  insulated 
minds,  the  material  and  the  spiritual,  each  of  which 
has  its  own  realm  of  thought  with  its  own  appear- 
ances. These  two  realms  are  mutually  exclusive, 
and  by  their  natures  are  free  from  one  another.2 

But  what  does  such  a  reduction  mean?  It  means 
that  the  physical  laws  of  the  finite,  material  order  do 
not  hold  in  the  spiritual  order;  that  matter,  the  sub- 
stance of  the  material  realm,  is  not  the  substance  of 

1  "  The  properties  of  matter  and  change,  together  with 
space  and  time,  belong  merely  to  phenomena,  while  thought 
which  constructs  the  idea  of  God  and  immortality  is  pro- 
tected against  the  '  insinuations  of  sense-perceptions.'  " — 
Paulsen:     Immanuel  Kant,  page  159. 

2  "  It  is  thus  —  the  human  understanding,  to  which  the 
perception  of  the  ideal  world  is  permanently  denied,  since  it 
possesses  only  sense-perception." —  Paulsen  :  Immanuel 
Kant,  page  248. 

"  To  the  physical  order  of  things  is  opposed  the  meta- 
physical order,  to  the  realm  of  affirmation  a  realm  of  denial, 
which  yet  remains  completely  closed  and  incomprehensible 
to  the  intellect,  framed  as  it  is  of  space,  time  and  causality." 
—  Deussen  :     Elements  of  Metaphysics,  page  292. 

"  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom 
of  God."—  John  3:  3. 

Also  see  /  Corinthians  2:  11  and  14;  and  John  14:  16,  77. 


NATURE  OF  UNREALITY  115 

the  spiritual  realm;  that  the  ideals  of  the  spiritual 
kingdom  are  antagonistic  to  the  ideals  of  the  ma- 
terial kingdom;  that  these  two  systems,  therefore, 
cannot  work  together,  and  obedience  to  the  one 
means  disobedience  to  the  other. 

But  it  means  more  than  this.  The  reduction  of 
the  universe  to  two  insulated  thought  systems,  one 
of  which  is  divine,  is  a  fatal  verdict  against  its  an- 
tagonist; for  that  which  the  Divine  Mind  excludes 
is  untrue  and  unreal,  and  therefore  the  finite  sense, 
its  conceptions  and  the  material  world, —  but  the  ap- 
pearances of  these  false  conceptions, —  are  unreal, 
are  illusion.  This  to  which  our  thinking  has 
brought  us,  comes  to  many  a  higher  mystic  through 
vision.3 

The  Mystic  Idealist,  then,  agrees  with  the  "  con- 
structive idealist  M  that  if  a  world  order  is  to  be 

3  "  Nothing  is  real  and  eternal, —  nothing  is  Spirit, —  but 
God  and  His  Idea." — Science  and  Health,  page  71. 

"  The  objects  cognised  by  the  physical  sense  have  not  the 
reality  of  substance." — Science  and  Health,  page  311. 

u  Matter  is  an  error  of  Statement." —  Science  and  Health, 
page  377- 

"  Evil  is  a  suppositional  lie.  ...  In  reality  there  is  no 
mortal  mind.  .  .  .  Life  and  being  are  of  God." — Science 
and  Health,  page  103. 


n6  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

real,  it  must  be  "  the  thought  of  the  Logos,"  "  the 
world  of  the  Standard  Mind."  And  it  is  just  be- 
cause we,  as  conscious  spiritual  idealists  believe  this, 
that  we  stand  for  the  unreality  of  the  material 
world.  Why  is  this?  How  can  two  sorts  of  ideal- 
ists agree  perfectly  as  to  the  basis  of  reality  and  yet 
come  to  exactly  opposite  conclusions  with  regard  to 
the  material  world?  Because  the  constructive 
idealist  does  not  see  what  is  irresistibly  clear  to  us,  as 
we  have  said,  that  the  ideas  which  appear  as  the 
finite,  material  world  cannot  have  been  thought  by 
infinite  Spirit.  Many  suggestions  of  this  conclusion 
may  be  found  in  such  varied  sources  as  the  Kantian 
Philosophy,  Vedantism,  and  Platonism.  To  the 
Christian  Scientist,  the  material  world  is  but  a  false 
sense  of  Reality.  It  is  but  illusion,  dream,  shadow, 
no  more  to  be  feared  than  "  the  rope  we  took  in  the 
darkness  for  a  serpent!  " 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  after  reading  this  and  the 
foregoing  chapter,  that  we  are  not  to  be  denied  the 
conception  of  a  spiritual  order,  even  though  the 
finite  intellect  cannot  conceive  of  such  an  order.  On 
the  contrary,  if  any  one  of  us,  seeking  for  Life,  will 
study  the  Bible,  Kant,  the  Christian  Science  Text 
Books  and  the  writings  of  the  saints  in  many  lands, 


NATURE  OF  UNREALITY  117 

he  will  so  enter  into  and  understand  the  spiritual 
experiences  of  others,  as  well  as  his  own,  that  there 
will  come  to  him  a  satisfying  conception  of  what 
constitutes  the  heavenly  order.  This  vision  will 
come  to  him  in  some  form  of  Spiritual  Idealism, 
even  if  called  by  another  name.  No  mere  nega- 
tive terms  will  suffice  for  its  description,  and  it  will 
be  clear  to  him  who  discovers  it,  however  unintelli- 
gible it  may  appear  to  others,  at  least  for  a  time. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEALIST'S  REMEDY 
FOR  THE  ILLUSION  CALLED  EVIL 

The  Spiritual  Idealist  assures  us  that  the  King- 
dom has  come ;  but  in  spite  of  this  comforting  testi- 
mony, he  must  admit  that  the  so-called  knowledge, 
the  feelings  and  desires  of  the  finite  sense,  still  pre- 
sent themselves  and  appear  as  real  things  to  many  of 
us.  Its  physical  forces  still  govern  our  lives  in  large 
measure;  its  ills  are  ever  present  with  us;  it  "  bars 
our  view  into  the  inner  being  of  things,"  and  begets 
that  plurality  of  sense  from  which  all  egoism  and 
discord  spring. 

What  good  has  it  done,  then,  to  reduce  the  ma- 
terial universe  to  a  "  mind  "  that  possesses  no  real 
knowing  power, —  whose  ideas,  therefore,  are  false, 
—  if  such  ideas  and  their  appearances,  false  though 
they  may  be,  yet  persistently  pursue  and  seem  real 
to  us?  Being  false,  they  need  not  pursue  us.  Since 
untruth  is  not  included  in  Truth,  and  is  unknown  to 
him  who  knows  the  truth,  it  may  be  unknown  to  us. 

118 


IDEALIST'S  REMEDY  FOR  EVIL     119 

The  significance  of  this  revelation  gives  us  the  key 
to  the  victory  over  evil  in  all  its  forms.  Let  us 
make  this  clear  to  ourselves. 

That  all  forms  of  evil  are  but  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  the  finite  sense, —  and  their  appearances, 
—  was  revealed  to  us  in  our  study  of  Idealism. 
That  this  finite  sense,  its  thoughts  and  feelings  are 
unknown,  that  is,  are  unreal  and  untrue  to  Mind 
or  God,  manifested  in  us  as  the  "  mind  of  Christ," 
was  revealed  to  us  in  our  study  of  Spiritual  Idealism. 
Thus  we  see  that  in  so  far  as  we  realise  what  the 
spiritual  truth  is  which  is  active  in  our  mind  of 
Christ,  are  we  turning  away  from  the  material,  and 
thus  are  freeing  ourselves  from  the  shadows  which 
would  hide  the  divine.  By  the  full  light  of  spiritual 
vision  we  see  all  the  ills  of  human  life  as  the  result 
of  illusion,  false  sense,  and  know  that  only  the  Good 
and  the  Spiritual  are  true.  It  is  only  through  such 
understanding  that  evil  can  be  corrected,  and  the 
good,  the  beautiful  and  the  spiritual  be  made  to  ap- 
pear in  our  lives. 

The  woman  had  faith, —  a  kind  of  thinking,  an 
activity  of  the  Christ  mind, —  and  it  made  her 
whole.1 

1Luke  8:48. 


120  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

Jairus  was  commanded  to  "  fear  not,"  and  to 
"  believe  only," —  that  is,  to  realise  the  truth  of 
Christ's  thoughts, —  and  his  daughter  was  raised 
from  the  dead.2  "  For  the  laws  of  the  Spirit  of 
Life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from  the 
laws  of  sin  and  death."  3  "  And  where  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty."  4 

We  believe  it  to  be  the  Christ  way  to  see  evil  as 
illusion,  through  a  consciousness  of  the  Real  as  per- 
fect. Potentially  we  have  the  same  spiritual  ca- 
pacity for  realising  ever  present  perfection  or  truth 
that  Christ  Jesus  had.  We  must  be  conscious,  not 
only  of  a  realisation  of  the  power  which  we  pos- 
sess, but  of  the  obligations  and  responsibilities  in- 
volved in  the  possesison  of  a  capacity  for  the  know- 
ing and  expressing  of  perfection. 

The  following  quotations  further  illustrate  and 
serve  to  make  clear  the  law  of  right  thinking  which, 
in  operating,  proves  evil  to  be  powerless :  — 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  be- 
lieveth  in  me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also, 
and  greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do;  because 
I  go  unto  my  father"  (John  14:  12). 

2  Luke  8 :  5,  55.  *  77  Corinthians  3:17. 

8  Romans  8 :  2. 


IDEALIST'S  REMEDY  FOR  EVIL     121 

"  If  ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you, 
ye  shall  ask  what  you  will,  and  it  shall  be  done 
unto  you  "  (John  15:  7 ) . 

"  I  am  that  bread  of  life  "   (John  6:  48). 

"  Your  fathers  did  eat  manna  in  the  wilderness, 
and  are  dead. 

u  This  is  the  bread  which  cometh  down  from 
heaven,  that  a  man  may  eat  thereof  and  not  die. 

"  I  am  the  bread  of  life :  he  that  cometh  to  me, 
shall  never  hunger;  and  he  that  believeth  on  me, 
shall  never  thirst"   (John  6:  48,  49,  50,  and  35). 

"  He  that  eateth  of  this  bread  shall  live  forever  " 
(John  6:  58). 

"If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and 
drink  "   (John  7:  37). 

"  Jesus  said  unto  her,  I  am  the  resurrection,  and 
the  life :  he  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were 
dead,  yet  shall  he  live  "  (John  9:  25). 

"  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit 
and  they  are  life  "   (John  6:  63). 

"  And  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall 
make  you  free  "  (John  8:  32). 

"  For  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death;  but  to  be 
spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace"  (Romans 
8:6). 


122  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

"  But  we  all,  with  open  face  beholding  as  in  a 
glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are  changed  into  the 
same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  "  (II  Corinthians  3 :  18). 

Using  another  vocabulary,  these  sayings  of  the 
Master  would  read:  He  that  believeth  in  my  ideas, 
the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also;  and  he  that 
abideth  in  the  Christ  consciousness  shall  ask  what 
he  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  him.  The  Ideas 
of  the  Christ  are  the  bread  of  life;  and  if  a  man 
realise  the  truth  of  them,  he  will  not  die.  The  re- 
alisation of  truth  is  that  which  gives  us  life :  —  free- 
dom from  untruth;  while  to  hold  as  true  false  con- 
ceptions concerning  Reality,  is  death. 

There  is  a  new  understanding,  then,  to  be  gained, 
in  the  light  of  which,  old  misconceptions  vanish  like 
a  mist.  The  sun  does  not  battle  with  dark  powers, 
but  stands  radiant,  conscious  only  of  its  own  light; 
and  by  reason  of  this  the  clouds,  if  ever  so  dense, 
are  ultimately  dissipated. 

We  are  given  to  eat  of  the  Tree  of  Life  and  the 
hidden  manna;  we  receive  a  new  name,  and  the 
morning  star.  It  is  also  promised  that  we  shall  be 
clothed  in  white  raiment,  shall  hunger  no  more, 
neither  thirst  any  more,  and  shall  be  made  pillars  in 


IDEALIST'S  REMEDY  FOR  EVIL     123 

the  temple  of  our  God.      (Revelations,  chapters  2, 
3  and  7O5 

In  Chapter  VII,  we  told  the  story  of  Pelleas  et 
Melisande  as  one  type  of  Idealist  would  tell  it. 
Thoughts  were  the  real  actors.  Let  us  now  in- 
terpret the  same  story  as  a  spiritual  idealist  must 
interpret  it.  In  his  interpretation  thoughts  are  still 
the  essence  of  the  so-called  things  and  events;  but, 
to  spiritual  idealism,  only  true  thoughts  or  Ideas  are 
real.  To  this  higher  form  of  idealism,  Melisande, 
in  spite  of  her  seeming  incapacity,  yet  in  reality  is 
a  capacity  for  knowing,  loving,  and  expressing  the 
truth;  in  spite  of  her  seeming  fear,  she  could  not 
be  afraid.  Spiritual  idealism  contends  that  since 
Melisande  is  an  Idea  of  God  or  Mind  —  a  mode  of 
God's  consciousness, —  the  activity  in  that  Idea  is 
spiritual, —  just  like  God, —  and  therefore  she  could 
not  lose  her  inner  light  by  which  she  always  knew 

5  "  The  Kritik  of  Practical  Reason  was  written  in  which 
is  unfolded  the  doctrine  of  man's  freedom,  standing  in  sharp 
contrast  with  the  necessity  of  natural  law." —  Kant  : 
Kritik  of  Judgment,  translated  by  Bernard;  Introduction, 
page  xv. 

"  In  so  far  as  a  man  realises  this  law  (the  moral  law)  in 
his  life,  he  belongs  directly  to  a  different  order  of  things  from 
that  of  nature." —  Paulsen  :     Immanuel  Kant,  page  309. 


i24  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

the  right  from  wrong.  God's  activity  can  be  noth- 
ing less  than  moral,  says  spiritual  idealism,  noth- 
ing less  than  truth  knowing,  nothing  other  than  lov- 
ing and  good;  and  the  realisation  of  this  truth,  as 
true,  is  powerful  over  human  illusions. 

In  such  a  light,  the  so-called  "  victim  of  circum- 
stance," "  environment,"  and  "  heredity  "  may  no 
longer  be  looked  upon  by  us  as  helpless;  and  when 
things  go  wrong  one  can  no  longer  feel  justified  in 
pitying  himself,  since  the  fault  lies  at  his  own  door. 
What  has  happened  is  simply  the  result  of  one's 
own  unnecessary  misconceptions.  That  each  one  of 
us  is  responsible  for  what  happens  to  himself  and 
to  others  is  one  of  the  great  keynotes  sounding 
through  this  doctrine  of  spiritual  idealism.  "  Mis- 
fortune "  is  the  sequence  of  our  lack  of  realisation 
of  the  possession  of  a  truth  knowing  capacity  which, 
in  reality,  is  always  present  and  always  operating. 
This  capacity  we  must  realise  as  ours  if  Peace,  Joy, 
Plenty, —  but  the  outward  signs  of  the  activity  of 
right  thinking, —  are  to  appear. 

Melisande  is  not  to  be  pitied  as  an  innocent  crea- 
ture, left,  through  no  fault  of  her  own,  alone,  to 
wander  in  a  dim  wood  where  lurked  unknown  evil; 


IDEALIST'S  REMEDY  FOR  EVIL     125 

at  the  mercy  of  a  man  who  took  advantage  of  her 
fears  to  bind  her  to  him  in  marriage,  ignorant  of 
what  it  meant;  having  no  way  of  knowing  that  by 
allowing  Golaud  to  become  her  feudal  lord,  she  gave 
to  him  her  love  in  fief.  Rather  has  spiritual  ideal- 
ism taught  us  to  see  the  whole  tragedy  of  Melisande 
as  but  the  externalisation  of  false  conceptions,  the 
essence  of  which  is  Melisande's  unnecessary  failure 
to  realise  the  truth.  Even  a  dragon  and  a  Mimi 
she  could  have  killed;  and  the  birds  themselves  had 
led  her  to  her  own,  had  she,  like  Siegfried,  realised 
that  she  could  not  be  afraid;  that  she,  a  guileless 
fool,  like  Parsifal,  could  never  sin. 

Let  us  remember  then,  as  spiritual  idealists,  that 
neither  sorrow,  nor  fear,  nor  any  evil,  is  necessary 
to  our  progress  toward  truth  knowing;  that  no  cruel 
taskmaster  is  inflicting  pains  upon  us  against  which 
we  have  no  refuge,  and  out  of  which  we  have  no 
way  of  escape;  but  that  all  the  blame  for  this  need- 
lessly sad  world  lies  in  misconceptions  which  will  not 
present  themselves  if  we,  by  searching,  come  to  re- 
alise what  the  truth  is, —  that  each  divine  idea  is 
already  knowing.  But  although  evil  is  not  neces- 
sary to  the  knowing  of  the  truth,  nevertheless,  if  in 


126  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

our  process  of  attainment  we  seem  to  go  in  the  wrong 
direction,  let  us  not,  in  seeking  for  a  remedy,  be  un- 
faithful and  superficial  and  resort  to  other  than  the 
Truth,  even  though  our  healing  may  seem  slow  and 
attended  by  what  we  call  sorrow  and  pain.  Let  us 
realise  that  the  law  of  perfection  is  always  working 
in  us,  teaching  us  to  turn  for  help  where  only  lasting 
help  can  come.  My  God !  My  God !  That  is  the 
only  cry,  and  His  answer,  the  only  true  one,  will 
surely  come. 

In  time  of  sorrow  to  absorb  one's  mental  powers 
in  pleasure,  or  even  in  profitable  pursuits,  for  the 
purpose  of  forgetting,  and  for  silencing  that  earnest 
questioning  in  our  hearts,  is  but  to  delay  the  finding 
of  just  that  truth  which  we  can  and  must  know  if 
we  would  save  ourselves  and  others,  too,  from  this 
same  valley  of  suffering  through  which  we  are  now 
passing. 

We  now  have  clearly  in  mind  that  peculiar  kind 
of  mental  activity  which  is  characteristic  of  the  re- 
ligious mystic  or  spiritual  Idealist.  And  what  fol- 
lows? Upon  sober  thought  there  is  no  one  of  us 
who  can  disguise  the  fact  that  he  has  this  spiritual 
activity  within  himself.     Merely  revealed  as 


IDEALIST'S  REMEDY  FOR  EVIL     127 

"  Fallings  from  us,  vanishings, 
Blank  misgivings  of  a  creature 
Moving  about  in  worlds  not  realised,"  6 

perhaps,  but  there ,  somewhat  aware,  and  striving  to 
realise  and  fulfil  itself;  sufficiently  realised,  even 
now,  to  be  clung  to  in  times  of  stress. 

Therefore,  at  the  present  moment,  let  each  of  us 
look  within  himself  and  find  there  that  affection,  that 
early  recollection,  or  perhaps  those  fragments  of 
something  he  can  hardly  call  a  faith;  yet  defined,  at 
least,  as  different,  and  confessed  to  be  the  deep  thing 
upon  which  all  his  life  is  builded.  Let  him  lay  hold 
of  these  fragments,  know  them,  now,  as  spiritual, 
and  piece  them  together  in  some  sort  of  design;  call- 
ing them  his  creed,  or  whatever  name  he  dislikes  less. 

The  possession  of  a  simple  creed,  because  it  im- 
plies spiritual  activity,  is  as  effective  in  ridding  one's 
self  of  the  appearances  called  evil  as  the  knowing 
of  truth  in  more  complex  forms,  provided  the  know- 
ing of  the  simpler  forms  of  truth  represents  the  re- 
sult of  our  best  efforts.7     We  are  always  going  on 

6  Wordsworth:     Ode  on  Immortality. 
Rodin's  "  Primitive  Man,"  Luxembourg,  Paris. 

7  "  '  Nothing  will   happen,'   said   Marco.     '  Nothing  can. 
.  .  .  Because,' — the  boy  spoke  in  an   almost  matter-of-fact 


128  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

to  a  fuller  understanding  of  spiritual  truth,  and  our 
next  chapter  will  point  out  a  method  by  which  one 
may  do  this ;  but  just  now  we  are  setting  a  value  upon 
the  simple   faith;  for  each  spiritual  idea,   hozvever 

tone, —  in  quite  an  unexalted  tone  at  all  events, — '  you  see  I 
can  always  make  a  strong  call,  as  I  did  to-night.' 

"  '  Did  you  shout  ?  '  the  Rat  asked.  '  I  didn't  know  you 
shouted.' 

14  '  I  didn't.  I  said  nothing  aloud.  But  I, —  the  myself 
that  is  in  me,'  Marco  touched  himself  on  his  breast,  '  called 
out,  "  Help !  Help !  "  with  all  its  strength.  And  help 
came.' 

"  The  Rat  regarded  him  dubiously. 

"'What  did  it  call  to?' he  asked. 

"  '  To  the  Power, —  to  the  Strength-place, —  to  the 
Thought  that  does  things.  The  Buddhist  hermit  who  told 
my  father  about  it  called  it  "  The  Thought  that  thought  the 
World."'" — Frances  Hodgson  Burnett:  The  Lost 
Prince,  chapter  21. 

"  *  It  was  called  44  The  Law  of  Earthly  Living."  It  was 
for  every  day,'  said  Marco.  4  It  was  for  the  ordering  of 
common  things, —  the  Small  things  wre  think  don't  matter, 
as  well  as  the  big  ones.  .  .  .  This  was  it: 

Let  pass  through  thy  mind,  my  son,  only  the  image 
thou  wouldst  desire  to  see  become  a  truth.  Meditate  only 
upon  the  wish  of  thy  heart, —  seeing  first  that  it  is  such  as 
can  wrong  no  man  and  is  not  ignoble.  Then  will  it  take 
earthly  form  and  draw  near  to  thee!*  * 

" '  "  This  is  the  Law  of  That  Which  Creates."  '  "—Fran- 
ces Hodgson  Burnett  :  The  Lost  Prince,  chapter  22. 


IDEALIST'S  REMEDY  FOR  EVIL     129 

simple,  contains  all  the  essential  elements  of  truth. 
It  is  not  so  much  what  truths  we  know,  therefore,  as 
it  is  the  activity  of  truth  knowing,  which  enables  us 
to  bring  to  light  existing  perfection. 

The  practical  value,  however,  of  any  true  thought, 
—  the  dynamic  force  of  it, —  depends  entirely  upon 
one's  realisation  of  its  truth,  and  this  realisation  of 
spiritual  truth  does  not  come  by  itself.  It  comes  by 
voluntary  practice  in  realisation.  This  is  our  daily 
prayer.  It  is  the  going  up  "  into  the  mountain," 
this  getting  away  in  thought  from  the  sense  world 
every  day,  if  only  for  one  hour.  The  "  world  is 
too  much  with  us,  late  and  soon;  getting  and  spend- 
ing, we  lay  waste  our  powers  " ;  whereas  we  need  to 
shut  the  world  of  affairs  out  and  be  alone  with  our 
heavenly  Father,  that  the  channels  of  communion 
between  us  may  be  kept  wide  open. 

When  we  see  a  divine  thought,  even  dimly,  if  we 
will  hold  it  in  our  minds  for  a  definite  period  daily, 
it  will  be  surprising,  say  the  spiritual  idealists,  to  see 
what  results  will  follow.  One  may  do  this  at  first 
in  the  attitude  of  a  scientist  who  but  experiments  to 
see  if  an  hypothesis  be  true;  who  u  observes  "  merely 
his  own  mind,  under  given  conditions,  he  being  de- 
tached. 


i3o  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

It  is  claimed  for  instance:  (i)  That  spiritual 
ideas  are  true,  whether  simple  or  complex,  whether 
expressed  in  words  or  only  felt.  (2)  That  the  re- 
alisation of  these  Ideas  as  true,  or  the  effort  to  do 
this,  for  at  least  one-half  hour  daily,  will  result  in 
power  over  evil,  and  will  make  for  perfection  under 
conditions  which  are  popularly  held  to  be  but 
"  good."  We  shall  be  doing  much  if  we  will  use  our 
minds  as  an  experiment  station  to  help  prove  or  dis- 
prove this  position. 

As  our  daily  concentration  begins  to  make  us  more 
fully  aware  of  our  divine  knowing  power,  we  shall 
begin  to  realise  more  and  more  the  true  significance 
of  spiritual  Ideas,  and  then  our  finite  knowing  pow- 
ers will  take  offence,  and  will  hasten  to  be  on  the  de- 
fensive; and,  in  proportion  to  the  disclosure  of  the 
logical  conclusions  involved  in  true  Ideas,  will  the 
feud  which  has  always  existed  between  the  material 
and  spiritual  make  itself  felt.  Conflict  between  the 
two  is  inevitable.  A  truce  is  impossible.  If  nec- 
essary, this  antagonism  between  the  mortal  sense  and 
the  divine  knowledge,  feelings  and  will,  will  be 
forced  upon  us  by  sin,  suffering,  and  sorrow;  but 
instead  it  may  be  revealed  as  a  result  of  daily  train- 
ing. 


IDEALIST'S  REMEDY  FOR  EVIL     131 

The  finite  mental  machinery  is  developed  and 
trained  each  day  by  hours  of  study,  and  one-half 
hour  is  very  little  to  give  to  the  training  of  its  op- 
ponent. The  university  man  who  wins  in  football 
against  his  antagonist  has  not  trusted  to  the  inci- 
dental use  of  his  muscles,  will,  and  courage,  de- 
manded in  the  uneventful  routine  of  his  ordinary 
days.  But  knowing  that  he  must  fight  a  hard  battle 
against  picked  men,  he  trains  himself  by  selective  ex- 
ercise for  a  definite  period  daily.  This  is  the  only 
course  for  him  to  pursue,  should  he  even  hope  to 
win,  to  say  nothing  of  being  sure  of  victory. 

And  now  a  perplexity  awaits  us.  Upon  realising 
the  truth,  we  shall  obtain  results  which  still  seem  to 
be  material.  This  is  puzzling,  for  we  know  that  a 
realisation  of  the  truth  can  only  bring  us  the  Real, 
and  that  it  and  its  appearances  are,  of  course,  spir- 
itual. And  yet  here  we  are  surrounded  by  a  wealth 
which  apparently  is  material.  How  do  we  account 
for  this?  Divine  Mind,  Its  ideas  and  their  appear- 
ances, at  this  period  are  seemingly  paralleled  by 
mortal  sense,  its  conceptions,  and  their  material  ap- 
pearances. One  may  call  them  a  veil,  in  that  they 
tend  to  hide  the  real  and  its  spiritual  appearances. 
One  may  mistake  this  veil,  this  "  sense  curtain,"  for 


132  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

the  Real,  or  the  appearance  of  the  Real.  Both  are 
wrong.  The  Real  consists  of  the  divine  Mind  and 
its  spiritual  ideas,  and  these  ideas  have  an  appear- 
ance of  their  own.  In  so  far  as  we  realise  this,  we 
tend  to  make  thin  the  material  veil,  and  thus  to  bring 
the  spiritual  into  view.  Indeed,  there  are  moments, 
even  now,  when  our  realisation  of  the  truth  of  true 
ideas  is  sufficient  to  wipe  out  entirely  the  material 
sense  of  things.  Then,  not  only  do  their  appear- 
ances go,  too,  but  there  flashes  into  view  a  spiritual 
vision.  Eye  hath  not  seen  this  vision,  neither  hath 
ear  heard  it,  neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man  but  when  it  appears,  the  pure  in  heart  are  see- 
ing God  and  His  Ideas. 


IV 


THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL 
IDEALIST 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  CONSCIOUS  ATTAINMENT  OF  A 
LARGER  CONCEPTION  OF  TRUTH 

What  we  call  lack  of  anything,  failure  of  any 
kind,  suffering  and  sin,  are  but  false  conceptions  and 
their  appearances.  Therefore  in  a  world  contain- 
ing so  much  sin  and  suffering  of  all  kinds,  it  is  natural 
that  we  should  hear  a  good  deal  about  "  coming  into 
the  Truth,"  it  being  the  only  remedy  for  untruth  and 
its  appearances  or  material  phenomena. 

We  shall  all  have  to  "  come  into," — that  is,  come 
to  understand  and  realise, —  the  Truth  fully  sooner 
or  later,  for  God  and  our  best  nature  demand  it. 
The  way  of  our  coming  may  be  hard  and  terrible  if 
we  wait  to  be  driven  by  suffering  and  sin  to  the  tak- 
ing of  every  new  step.  But  we  do  not  need  to  go 
down  into  the  deep,  dark  valley  of  suffering  and  sin 
before  we  look  up  and  try  to  find  out  what  our 
Father  is  thinking  about. 

If  we  take  the  way  of  virtue  and  love,  our  coming 

135 


136  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

to  realise  existing  truths  will  be  a  joyous  and  spon- 
taneous process.  Wishing  to  know  the  truth  for 
truth's  sake  will  save  us  from  its  enforced  discovery 
through  suffering.  Being  good  and  loving,  we  shall 
realise  the  deficiencies  of  this  human  life,  realise  that 
it,  at  its  best,  is  far  from  being  wise,  strong,  beauti- 
ful; far  from  giving  love  to  all  and  receiving  love 
from  all;  far  from  being  powerful  over  evil  to  any 
satisfying  extent.  The  better  and  more  loving  we 
are,  the  keener  will  our  realisation  be  of  the  suffer- 
ing about  us ;  and  such  a  realisation  will  force  us  to 
reach  out  for  that  truth  which,  when  we  realise  it  as 
true,  will  give  us  power  over  the  evil  of  the  world; 
will  save  us  and  others  from  its  shrinkages  and  limi- 
tations, its  lack  of  joy  and  sympathy,  its  ignorance 
and  wasted  effort. 

Hence,  at  the  outset  our  purpose  is  to  search  con- 
stantly for  more  truth,  and  not  merely  because  it  is 
an  interesting  pursuit  in  itself,  but  because  the  know- 
ing of  the  truth  is  the  only  thing  which  makes  the 
good  appear.  And  there  is  ever  a  fresh  step  in 
truth  knowing  to  be  taken,  for  ever  larger  visions 
of  truth  are  necessary  to  solve  the  more  complex 
problems  which  life  brings.  Hence,  in  our  search 
for  truth  we  always  have  the  practical  end  in  view, 


THE  ATTAINMENT  OF  TRUTH     137 

and  whatever  we  ultimately  accept  as  true  shall  have 
proved  itself  all  along  the  way  to  be  of  practical 
value  when  applied  to  everyday  living. 

Holding  on  to  what  we  have  ourselves  in  the  way 
of  spiritual  truth,  and  adding  to  it  what  life  brings, 
we  shall  some  day  hear  of  the  faith  of  another  which 
seems  to  us  altogether  lovely.  We  cannot  under- 
stand it  and  can,  therefore,  only  wish  it  were  true. 
This  is  enough;  at  first  known  as  something  lovely, 
it  will  soon  reveal  itself  as  something  good,  and, — 
perhaps  not  until  the  last, —  as  something  true. 

How  is  it  that  we  have  come  to  distrust  the  beauti- 
ful? Rather  is  it  always  good  and  the  good  is  true. 
That  we  should  demand  understanding  of  ourselves, 
ultimately,  is  right,  but  should  we  wait  to  under- 
stand before  giving  our  highest  instincts  play! 

When  we  find  our  understanding  weak,  we  must 
not,  in  mistaken  pride,  or  through  the  reserve  of 
scepticism,  be  reluctant  to  seek  the  light  from  oth- 
ers; rather  let  us  gratefully  dwell  upon  their  spir- 
itual experiences  that  our  own  capacity  for  under- 
standing may  be  stimulated  to  unfold.  We  must 
always  be  led  by  those  whose  understanding  is,  in 
some  directions,  greater  than  our  own;  whose  way, 
therefore,  is  more  triumphant.     People  are  but  ideas 


138  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

which  God  sends  us,  as  He  sends  those  still,  small 
voices  to  our  hearts  in  response  to  our  needs  and  our 
searching  for  the  light.  < 

Having  decided  to  look  for  more  truth,  not  only 
within  ourselves  but  within  the  minds  of  others,  we 
may,  perhaps,  be  led  to  enter  upon  such  larger  ef- 
fort through  the  study  of  spiritual  ideas  as  held  by 
some  friend, —  perhaps  at  her  earnest  request,  she 
having  recognised  our  needs,  and  having  told  us  that 
there  is  something  that  we  do  not  know.  She,  know- 
ing what  this  truth  is,  orally  and  silently  teaches  us 
each  day  these  spiritual  ideas  which  she  has  proved 
to  herself  to  be  true. 

For  a  time,  perhaps  a  long  time,  we  may  not  be 
aware  of  improved  conditions,  however  apparent 
they  may  be  to  those  about  us;  but  at  last  we  shall 
become  sufficiently  awake  to  see  that,  in  proportion 
as  we  allow  spiritual  ideas  to  take  possession  of  us, 
do  conditions  improve.  As  a  result  our  attitude 
changes.  A  shade  of  curiosity  takes  the  place  of 
indifference  and  scepticism,  and  we  say  to  ourselves 
half-apologetically,  "  How  can  one  help  wondering  a 
little  about  a  thought  which  acts  like  a  charm?" 
Encouraged,  we  continue  to  hold  on  to  the  thoughts, 
—  considered  by  others  to  be  true, —  with  greater 


THE  ATTAINMENT  OF  TRUTH     139 

seriousness  and  persistence.  At  first  it  seems  dif- 
ficult to  keep  the  mind  concentrated  even  for  a  few 
seconds  upon  these  almost  meaningless  ideas.  They 
are  strangers  in  the  nest,  and  the  old  nestlings  are 
jealous  and  try  to  crowd  them  out;  but  gradually,  as 
one  holds  firmly  to  his  purpose,  old  thoughts  fly 
away ;  the  new  ones  gain  in  strength,  begin  to  feel  at 
home,  and  sometimes  seem  to  think  themselves. 
This  is  epoch-making. 

Another  and  yet  another  new  idea  is  given  us,  and 
at  the  coming  of  every  new  one  an  old  one  makes 
ready  for  flight.  The  process  is  not  one  of  addition 
only,  but  of  subtraction  also.  The  old  oak  leaves 
are  pushed  off  as  the  new  ones  stir.  At  last  comes 
a  moment  of  crisis.  One  says  spontaneously:  "  Of 
course  this  idea  is  true;  and,  what  is  more,  in  many 
instances  I  can  say  that  I  have  known  it  to  be  true 
before.  Indeed,  it  seems  as  though  I  had  always 
known  it  to  be  true." 

From  that  moment  the  whole  attitude  is  changed; 
this  we  now  know  to  be  true,  and  have  before  known 
to  be  true,  at  which  but  lately  we  scoffed !  At  what 
other  ideas  are  we  scoffing  which  in  some  forgotten 
yesterday  we  have  known  to  be  true? 

We  have  now  made  a  discovery  about  our  mental 


i4o  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

life  which  puts  us  into  an  attitude  of  humility  and 
gratitude.  The  Source  of  our  knowledge  is  now 
felt  to  be  outside  of  ourselves,  and  He  and  His  gift 
are  not  for  us  to  measure.  The  spiritual  nature  in 
us  has  been  speaking,  but  we  have  not  known  it  to 
be  ourselves.  It  has  spoken  and  we  have  heard,  but 
it  did  not  seem  like  our  hearts  speaking,  and  we 
have  not  listened  seriously  to  its  messages.  This 
coming  to  know  ourselves,  to  know  what  we  really 
are  and  what  we  really  know,  this  is  what  is  happen- 
ing and  what  must  happen  to  each  of  us.  This  state 
of  mind  into  which  we  have  now  entered  appears  to 
us  as  a  spiritual  activity,  a  truth-knowing  activity. 
It  has  always  been  operating,  has  always  been  un- 
derstanding more  and  more  truths,  has  always  been 
laying  up  treasures  for  us;  but  not  until  now  have  we 
consciously  come  to  our  own. 

When  once  any  form  of  spiritual  experience  has 
revealed  us  to  ourselves  in  this  way,  we  can  hardly 
be  patient  until  we  become  more  aware  of  the  real 
nature  and  power  of  this  truth  knowing  activity, — 
this  sesame  to  untold  treasures  which  has  always 
been  ours,  and  of  which  we  have  made  but  uncon- 
scious use. 

With  the  confident  assurance  that  we  have  always 


THE  ATTAINMENT  OF  TRUTH     141 

possessed  a  truth-knowing  capacity,  we  suddenly  feel 
a  sense  of  wealth  possessed  and  in  store  for  us,  and 
an  unparalleled  scope  of  possible  achievement  opens 
before  us  in  all  directions.  We  see  the  ocean  for 
the  first  time,  and  breathe  mountain  air  after  living 
a  weary  time  in  the  lowlands.  Not  only  do  new 
vistas  of  knowledge  spread  themselves  before  us,  but 
wider  ranges  of  feeling  and  doing,  richer  intercourse 
with  men,  greater  eagerness  to  give  and  to  receive 
from  others.  Life  has  a  new  meaning,  and  the 
spirit  of  adventure  and  discovery  seizes  upon  us. 
The  spiritual  realm  has  always  been  open,  and  we 
are  destined  to  go  in  and  take  possession  of  it 
throughout  eternity  by  means  of  a  truth-knowing 
capacity  which  is  inalienably  ours;  and  now  we  know 
that  just  in  proportion  as  we  knock,  shall  it  be  opened 
unto  us,  and  in  proportion  to  our  seeking  shall  we 
find.  Joy  already  fills  our  hearts  at  the  thought  of 
what  the  past  has  yielded  and  what  the  future  holds 
in  store  for  all  men.  And  our  delight  is  not  for  a 
moment  checked,  although  we  realise  that  in  order 
to  make  this  vision  last  and  come  to  fulfilment  much 
real  work  must  be  done.  We  must  have  a  period 
each  day  when  we  do  concentrated  work  upon  spir- 
itual conceptions,  new  as  well  as  old;  for  all  concep- 


1 42  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

tions  of  Reality,  in  so  far  as  they  are  spiritual,  con- 
tain that  truth  the  knowing  of  which  gives  us  power 
over  evil.  We  will  not  be  afraid,  therefore,  to  en- 
ter upon  the  study  of  faiths  which  are  strange  to  us; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  anchored  to  well  tried  ideals 
and  waiting  upon  God's  guidance,  let  us  deem  it  a 
duty  to  dwell  upon  such  "  new  "  ideas  as  He  puts  in 
our  way.  Let  us  seriously  and  without  prejudice 
consider  them.  Let  us  come  to  understand  what 
they  mean,  even  if  we  do  it  but  doubtingly  and  in  the 
spirit  of  experimentation  merely;  even  if  we  do  it 
for  no  other  reason  than  that  we  may  be  numbered 
among  those  who  are  trying  to  find  out  if  certain 
thoughts,  believed  by  some  to  be  true, —  are  true 
and,  therefore,  are  life  giving,  joy  and  plenty  bring- 
ing, and  thus  may  be  used  as  food,  as  preventive  of 
evil,  as  a  tonic,  as  recreation,  as  medicine  for  mind 
and  body. 

In  thus  undertaking  to  test  the  value  of  any  given 
thought,  one  must  remember  that  he  is  unable  to 
judge  as  to  its  remedial  value  until  he  can  let  it  take 
possession  of  him  wholly.  This  complete  occupa- 
tion of  the  mind  by  the  thoughts  with  which  one  is 
experimenting  does  not  come  through  simply  read- 
ing words,  with  a  feeble  grasp  of  their  meaning;  nor 


THE  ATTAINMENT  OF  TRUTH     143 

does  a  full  knowledge  of  their  meaning  signify  a 
complete  surrender  on  the  part  of  the  mind  to  any 
given  idea ;  neither  does  the  knowing  of  certain  ideas 
to  be  true  tax  the  powers  of  the  spiritual  mind  to  its 
utmost.  But,  as  when  the  air  seems  drenched  with 
sunlight,  as  when  our  hearts  can  scarcely  hold  their 
weight  of  grief  or  joy,  as  when  a  bird  has  filled  its 
throat  to  overflowing  with  its  song,  so  is  the  mind 
drenched  and  thrilled  and  filled  to  overflowing  when 
it  realises  that  certain  ideas  are  true.  Then  we 
know  that  it  is  not  alone  the  heart  which  sings  and 
dances;  the  mind,  too,  feels  itself  young  when  palpi- 
tating with  truth,  and  in  spontaneous  and  buoyant 
action  it  carries  us,  effortless,  where  it  will,  but  al- 
ways to  some  joy,  some  good,  to  new  love,  to  new 
life,  to  undreamed  of  power,  provided  it  is  uninter- 
rupted and  unchoked  by  mere  seemings,  by  those 
false  conceptions  which  appear  to  spring  up  and  cut 
off  its  onward  movement. 

We  must  realise  this  great  danger.  If  the  spir- 
itual thought  current  be  interrupted,  we  shall  lose 
connection  with  our  Source  of  energy.  Then  our 
spiritual  idea  will  fade  away,  like  a  new  plant  bereft 
of  sun,  and  we  shall  not  bring  it  to  completion  in 
action.     That  we  have  high  ideals,  but  are  non-pro- 


i44  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

ductive,  will  be  the  verdict  against  us.  This  prema- 
ture break  in  our  careers,  this  "  failure  to  connect," 
is  due,  seemingly,  to  a  setting  in  of  a  lower  thought 
force,  which  assumes  many  forms, —  the  guise  of 
fear,  of  self-distrust,  of  suspicion  of  others.  This 
counter  current  may  come  from  some  one  who  is  dear 
to  us,  but  who  does  not  yet  understand.  It  may 
come  in  the  form  of  some  erstwhile  duty.  But  what- 
ever the  form  of  the  interruption,  let  us  choose  the 
better  part,  and  struggle  above  these  false  voices 
which  would  tempt  us. 

We  rise  above  the  "  mean  knights  "  by  listening, 
listening  for  the  ideas  which  are  God's  and  which 
He  is  producing  in  us.  And  when  we  discover  what 
they  are,  we  dwell  upon  them.  And  we  lose  our- 
selves in  this  listening  and  repeating  attitude  until 
God  and  His  ideas  are  for  us  the  sole  Truth.  Noth- 
ing less  than  a  consecrated  effort  to  realise  the  truth 
will  sweep  the  mind  strings  into  music,  that  each 
day  tells  us  something  beautiful  and  new,  and  makes 
us  know  that  it  is  true,  until  our  pain  is  gone,  our 
joy  returned,  and  all  the  good  is  here  that  we  were 
promised. 

This  listening  for  God's  messages  and  realising 
our  obligation  to  obey  them  will  also  give  us  larger 


THE  ATTAINMENT  OF  TRUTH     145 

things  to  do,  and  although  the  old  fear  and  discour- 
agement will  try  to  reassert  themselves,  it  will  be  in 
vain,  for  now  a  hidden  strength  is  stirring;  a  joy  is 
welling  up  in  us;  we  feel  new-born,  as  though  cut 
loose  from  self  and  all  its  limitations,  its  M  cannot," 
"  would  not  try,"  to  do  and  be. 

To  have  ideas  float  into  one's  mind  like  the  words 
of  some  unbidden  song  and  bring  themselves  to  ful- 
filment is  indeed  a  new  way  of  living.  The  empti- 
ness of  seldom  having  ideas,  and  then,  when  they 
came,  the  anxiety  and  fear  lest  they  would  never 
come  to  fruition,  is  being  melted  away  by  the  gentle- 
ness of  some  new  touch.  Let  us,  therefore,  remem- 
ber during  our  first  years  of  initiation, —  when  it  is 
hard  for  us  to  learn  even  the  mere  words  of  certain 
ideas,  to  say  nothing  of  being  able  for  even  a  few 
seconds  to  dwell  upon  them  to  the  exclusion  of  oth- 
ers,—  that  not  yet  is  it  fair  for  us  to  pass  judgment 
upon  their  power.  We  must  remember  that  not 
until  we  know  what  an  idea  means,  and  can  realise 
it  as  true,  and  can  keep  up  this  realisation  without 
letting  the  current  be  broken  by  any  false  concep- 
tion,—  not  until  then  will  the  right  thought  or  the 
Idea  get  a  purchase  upon  us,  and  prove  its  value 
through  some  good  effect  upon  our  minds,  our  bodies, 


i46  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

and  our  circumstances.  This  high  tide  of  thought 
activity  in  us  neither  remembers  nor  respects  old 
boundaries;  it  breaks  over  them  all,  and  is  a  law 
unto  itself  as  it  mounts  and  flows  out  and  makes  for 
the  knowing  of  true  ideas  in  every  region  over  which 
it  flows.  And  now,  at  this  point,  we  feel  that  we 
may  give  "  treatment "  to  ourselves  and  to  others. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  PRACTICAL  APPLICATION  OF 
TRUTH 

When  we  have  become  so  absorbed  in  listening 
to  God's  Ideas  and  realising  them  to  be  true  as  to 
be  absolutely  uplifted,  and  neither  hear,  see,  nor 
know  aught  but  man  in  his  true  being,  this  full  flood 
of  spiritual  thought  activity  begins  to  flow  out,  quite 
irrespective  of  ourselves,  apparently,  although  we 
retain  the  power  of  directing  its  course.  Then  we 
see  the  one  who  turns  to  truth  for  help,  in  his  true 
spiritual  selfhood  or  as  like  Christ,  and  such  know- 
ing is  soon  seen  to  be  remedial  in  its  effects.  Truth 
itself  always  does  the  healing.  It  is  for  me  to  be- 
come conscious  of  Truth's  presence  and  its  power  of 
radiation. 

To  explain  further:  Whenever  one  suffers  in 
mind  or  body,  the  trouble  to  him  seems  physical;  but 
in  fact  it  is  an  indication  of  a  lack  of  the  realisa- 
tion upon  his  part  of  the  truth  of  his  being:  modes 

H7 


i48  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

of  knowing  activites  in  operation.  He  must,  there- 
fore, become  more  and  more  aware  of  what  these 
activites  are  and  that  they  are  constantly  going  on; 
and  this  realisation  will  always  manifest  itself  in 
normal  conditions.  The  work  of  the  practitioner 
consists  in  silently  realising,  for  the  patient,  the 
presence  in  his  consciousness  of  these  true  knowing 
activities  of  which  he  is  seemingly  ignorant,  such  as 
the  knowing  that  spiritual  good  is  all  in  all,  that 
Love  and  right  consciousness  are  ever  present,  that 
there  is  no  reality  in  evil,  nothing  of  which  to  be 
afraid,  hence  no  fear.  If  the  practitioner  succeeds 
in  bringing  himself  to  a  keen  realisation  of  these 
great  truths,  they  become  radiant,  and  thus  the  pa- 
tient, too,  in  some  measure  becomes  aware  of  their 
truth  and  presence;  and  in  so  far  as  he  does,  his 
shadows  of  false  sense  vanish. 

To  apply  this  principle  to  a  particular  case :  Sup- 
pose our  patient  "  has  a  headache."  The  "  exact 
spot," —  figuratively  speaking,  for  it  is  in  conscious- 
ness,—  where  the  ache  seems  to  be  is  apparently  bar- 
ren of  true  ideas.  This  barrenness  is,  of  course,  an 
illusion,  for  the  consciousness  of  true  ideas  must  be 
everywhere,  in  spite  of  appearances  to  the  contrary. 
Therefore,  the  "spot  "  where  the  pain  seems  to  be 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  TRUTH     149 

is,  in  reality,  full  of  thought  activity, —  the  activity 
of  divine  Mind, —  although  the  patient  may  know 
this  only  in  subconscious  fashion.  It  is  necessary 
for  the  practitioner  to  consciously  realise  that  truth 
knowing  is  active,  in  spite  of  the  patient's  seeming 
misconceptions,  and,  as  a  result,  he  will  also  begin 
to  realise  health. 

Every  state  of  discord  or  disharmony  which  we 
experience  gives  proof  that  we  are  not  thinking 
rightly  about  ourselves.  The  seeming  wrong  condi- 
tion can  only  be  changed  by  awakening  to  our  spir- 
itual origin  and  inheritance,  our  perfection  in  truth; 
and  our  false  conceptions  will  then  disappear. 

If  the  patient  be  sufficiently  spiritually  minded, 
the  practitioner  may,  through  a  silent  realisation  of 
the  truth  about  man,  succeed  in  relieving  him  from 
the  burden  of  false  beliefs  that  have  bound  him.  In 
order  to  obtain  the  best  results,  the  patient  must  help 
himself  all  that  he  can  by  thinking  true  thoughts  in 
so  far  as  he  knows  them. 

Let  us  now  take  another  typical  case  and  outline 
its  treatment. 

Suppose  the  ache,  this  time,  be  clearly  a  mental 
condition,  such  as  heartache  from  a  sense  of  loss  or 
separation.     In  reality  all  God's  ideas  exist  forever 


150  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

in  the  divine  consciousness  and  are  always  related  to 
one  another  as  the  ideas  of  Spirit  must  be. 

By  holding  such  true  thoughts  for  the  one  who 
needs  help,  we  teach  him  to  be  aware  of  his  inalien- 
able relation  with  his  friend,  and  thus  effect  an 
escape  from  sorrow  by  a  realisation  of  a  truth.  In 
accordance  with  spiritual  law,  "  his  "  untruth  will 
disappear  in  proportion  to  this  realisation. 

Thus  ultimately,  through  experience,  we  arrive  at 
a  point  where  we  can  judge  of  the  remedial  value  of 
the  Christ  ideas.  To  treat  any  condition,  reduce 
things  to  thoughts.  Analyse  these  thoughts;  and  in 
the  light  of  what  we  have  learned,  discriminate  be- 
tween those  which  are  divine  and  those  which  are 
finite.  Realise  the  truth  of  those  which  are  divine. 
In  so  far  as  our  minds  are  occupied  with  the  truth 
of  these  true  ideas  will  the  invisible  good  become 
visible.  Our  effort  has  not  been  to  make  any  good 
come  true,  but  only  to  know  all  good  as  true  and  so 
to  make  it  appear.  If  I  know  that  man,  the  true 
selfhood,  is  loving,  and  the  patient  wants  to  know 
the  truth,  he  will  soon  realise  his  true  self  to  be  lov- 
ing, and  love's  rule  will  appear  in  him.  So  if  I 
know  man  to  be  free  from  pain,  and  the  patient 
wishes  to  know  the  truth,  he  will  soon  find  himself 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  TRUTH     151 

free  from  pain,  for  painlessness  will  appear  in  re- 
sponse to  his  realisation  of  his  true  selfhood.  What- 
ever I  know  as  true  of  him,  he  will  come  to  know  as 
true  of  his  true  self. 

Sometimes  we  shrink  from  being  treated  by  an- 
other, feeling  that  there  is  perhaps  some  undue  force 
or  hypnotic  influence  used  in  making  us  believe  cer- 
tain things  against  our  will;  but  the  process  of  treat- 
ing a  person  is  merely  the  process  of  teaching  him 
to  realise  as  true  that  which,  in  his  real  selfhood,  he 
already  knows  to  be  true.  God  has  no  secrets  which 
He  tells  to  a  chosen  few.  His  truth  is  open  to  all, 
and  each  one  of  us,  in  his  real  nature,  is  a  truth-know- 
ing capacity  and  thus  is  protected  from  untruth. 
Everyday  life  is  constantly  attesting  to  this  existence 
of  the  same  kind  of  knowing  capacity  in  all  people, 
which  enables  each  to  communicate  his  thoughts  to 
others,  and  to  arouse  in  the  minds  of  others  an  ac- 
tivity similar  to  his  own.  Suppose  we  feel  depressed 
when  a  friend  with  a  "  contagious  laugh  n  and  a 
happy  faculty  of  "  putting  a  joke  "  comes  in.  How 
long  do  we  feel  downhearted?  What  has  hap- 
pened? We  have  "seen  the  joke";  that  is,  our 
minds  have  become  active  in  a  manner  similar  to  his 
He  has  not  mesmerised  us,  used  any  "  control  "  over 


1 52  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

us;  we  simply  see  the  point,  the  trtuh,  which  we  are 
all  bound  to  see.  It  is  as  though  he  merely  called 
our  attention  to  something  meant  to  be  equally  evi- 
dent to  us  both. 

The  work  of  teaching  the  truth  to  another,  which 
results  in  his  knowing  the  truth  in  greater  measure 
than  before,  has  a  remedial  effect  in  all  directions 
which  once  would  have  surprised  us.  During  this 
realisation  of  the  truth,  in  loving  obedience  to  a  re- 
quest for  help,  we  feel  the  presence  of  our  heavenly 
Father,  and  know  that  the  power  by  which  good 
comes  to  the  patient  is  not  our  own. 

As  a  result  of  spiritual  activity,  in  the  conscious 
realisation  of  the  truth,  one  may  gradually  attain  to  a 
state  of  consciousness  where  his  ideas  may  no  longer 
be  clothed  in  words;  and  spiritually  poised,  as  it 
were,  on  the  height  attained,  he  may  seem  to  be  im- 
mersed in  a  golden  flood  of  light.  He  may  also  see 
the  patient  and  himself  as  one,  in  substance,  with 
this  sea  of  light,  and  both  may  rest  there  in  perfec- 
tion. This  new  appearance  of  ourselves  and  of 
others  is  not  a  material  appearance  at  all,  but  a 
vision  of  the  ideal.  It  is  like  pure  sunlight,  only  it 
is  a  heavenly  sunlight, —  more  luminous,  more  pure, 
than    anything    we    experience    in    physical    seeing. 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  TRUTH     153 

Then,  as  the  realisation  of  spiritual  truths  becomes 
more  intense,  this  ideal  radiates  more  and  more  of 
that  intelligence,  love,  joy,  freedom,  and  power 
which  are  inherent  in  God  and  which  man  expresses. 
There  is  also  to  be  seen  a  looking  out  and  upward, 
on  the  part  of  the  patient,  to  the  Source  of  Being. 
This  appearance  is  a  spiritual  experience,  and  comes 
to  one  only  when  his  spiritual  sight  is  clear. 

Doubtless  there  are  a  variety  of  appearances 
which  are  incident  to  the  realisation  of  spiritual  ideas 
as  true ;  but  whatever  these  experiences  may  be,  they 
will  carry  with  them  a  conviction  that  they,  as  well 
as  the  ideas  which  bring  them,  are  spiritual  and  real. 
To  realise  spiritual  truth  and  attain  to  these  uplift- 
ing experiences  which  follow, —  whatever  they  may 
be, —  is  to  be  forever  relieved  of  doubt  as  to  the 
reality  of  spiritual  substance. 

Suppose  my  friend  be  in  pain  or  sorrow;  when 
this  vision  of  Truth  has  taken  the  place  of  a  dark- 
ness which  seemed  to  oppose  us,  the  patient  is  usually 
relieved.  If  the  relief  does  not  show  itself  at  once, 
as  sometimes  will  be  the  case,  this  is  no  reason  for 
disappointment,  for  the  process  of  spiritual  attain- 
ment is  going  on  and  will  manifest  itself. 


V 
CONCLUSION 


CHAPTER  XIV 

AN  INDIVIDUAL  EXPRESSION  OF 
TRUTH 

As  a  result  of  this  foregoing  experimental  study, 
during  which  our  truth-knowing  capacity  has  been 
doing  faithful  and  critical  work,  we  shall  find  our- 
selves in  possession  of  a  body  of  truth;  and  in  our 
efforts  to  make  this  truth  practical,  it  will  shape  it- 
self. The  following  individual  conception  illus- 
trates this.  At  first,  I  did  not  try  to  put  into  words 
that  truth  which  had  come  to  me  through  my  own 
experience  and  through  the  teaching  of  others. 
They  came  gradually,  as  the  thoughts  defined  them- 
selves, during  years  of  daily  effort  to  make  these 
truths  practical  for  the  overcoming  of  evil  and  for 
the  maintenance  of  good. 

When  the  words  do  come,  one  feels  that  the  in- 
dividual expression  of  universal  thought  is  his;  but 
not  the  thought  itself.  That  is  forever  in  Mind. 
Only  God  possesses  it,  but  it  is  there,  for  every  one 

i57 


158  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

to  grasp  and  to  express  in  his  own  way.  Indeed, 
this  individual  and  conscious  expression  of  truth  is 
the  duty  of  each  one  of  us;  for  although  these  great 
words, —  Spirit,  Love,  Truth,  Power,  Reflection, — 
these  chalices  of  life,  have  been  given  to  us,  yet  we 
cannot  take  the  gift  of  such  words  lightly.  The 
passion  of  the  giver  of  words  is  to  liberate  us;  to 
make  us  rewin  the  victories  won  by  those  who  have 
led  men  on.  A  poor  return  it  were  to  be  a  slave  to 
the  letter,  and  so  allow  love's  labour  to  be  lost. 
None  know  better  than  those  to  whom  we  are  in- 
debted for  the  gift  of  words  that  each  individual 
must  scale  the  Horeb  heights  of  thought  for  him- 
self, as  though  for  the  first  time,  and  read  for  him- 
self the  tablets  of  the  law,  and  inscribe  them  in  the 
language  of  his  own  heart,  before  they  are  really  his. 

Have  we  tried  to  reach  down  into  the  depths  and 
up  into  the  heights  of  consciousness  which  the  givers 
of  words,  always  at  the  expense  of  ease,  often  at  the 
expense  of  life,  have  reached?  Have  we  even 
vaguely  realised  what  sacrifice,  what  courage,  devo- 
tion and  selflessness  the  gain  of  one  word  may  sig- 
nify? 

The  gift  of  a  true,  living  word  lays  upon  us  the 
burden  of  a  quest.     'Tis  a  cup,  a  grail,  holy  in  con- 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH        159 

tent,  consecrated  to  high  uses.  Acceptance  of  it 
upon  our  part  signifies  no  mere  quaffing  of  the  foam 
at  its  brim,  but  the  taking  of  a  vow  to  discover  the 
eternal  truth  it  symbolises.  One  follows  where  it 
leads,  o'er  seas  of  thought,  perhaps  o'er  waste  and 
barren  places,  with  willingness  to  tread  with  burning 
feet  the  hot  sands;  while  the  thirsty  soul  pleads  in 
constant  prayer  for  truth.  Only  to  such  a  weary, 
but  never  faltering,  explorer  upon  life's  way,  shall 
winged  Mercurys  of  thought,  in  swift  flight,  flash 
into  view.  To  him  alone,  the  clouds  clear  away,  the 
heavens  open,  and  he  drinks  anew  the  eternal  truths 
from  ancient  and  time-worn  words,  but  freshly  filled 
to  overflowing  with  new  wine  crushed  from  the  rich, 
ripe  fruit  of  his  own  experience. 


Whatever  Life  or  Being  is,  all  things  must  be  in- 
volved in  it  in  order  to  have  life,  to  exist. 

Whatever  is  a  quality  or  a  condition  of  Life  or 
Being,  all  things  must  possess  it,  if  they  are  to  qualify 
for  existence. 

Life  or  Being  is  all  there  is,  in  all  existing  things. 

What  is  Life  or  Being? 

Life  or  Being  is  perfect  Consciousness    (Divine 


160  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

Mind)  manifesting  itself  through  its  perfect  Ideas. 
Life  or  Being  knows,  feels,  and  acts. 

Being  is  Spirit;  therefore  its  consciousness  is  al- 
ways true,  good,  beautiful,  perfect,  and  complete; 
that  is,  the  Divine  Mind  knows  Ideas  of  a  certain 
kind;  has  feelings  of  a  certain  kind;  acts  in  a  certain 
way. 

Therefore  anything  unlike  the  foregoing  ideas, 
feelings,  and  will,  cannot  be  ascribed  to  this  Divine 
Mind  which  is  Being;  cannot  be  "  predicated  of 
Reality."  He  is  Love  (John  4:  8).  He  is  our 
Father  in  heaven  (Luke  11:2),  "the  Father  of 
mercies,  the  God  of  all  comfort"    (II  Corinthians 

To  be,  then,  or  to  have  life,  is  to  partake  of, — 
be  involved  in, —  this  Perfect  Consciousness  or  Di- 
vine Mind.  But  how  do  I  partake  of  this  Perfect 
Consciousness,  this  Mind  which  is  Being?  What  is 
the  relation  between  me  and  Being?  I  am  born  of 
God;  I  am  His  Son;  we  are  also  His  offspring  (Acts 
17:  28).  But  I  do  not  take  the  initiative  in  this 
birth.  I  cannot  primarily  partake  of  Him.  He 
first  loves  me.  That  is  to  say,  when  God  or  the  Per- 
fect Consciousness  thinks,  I  am  one  of  the  ideas  of 
which  He  is  conscious.     He  thinks  me;  thus  I  am. 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH        161 

To  be  embraced  in  the  Mind  of  God,  as  an  idea,  is 
to  be.  I  do  not  originate  myself;  I  am  involved. 
God  is  my  original;  I  but  reflect  Him.  I  am,  only 
because  He  is.  I  am  a  corollary  of  God  or  Mind. 
I  have  no  self  of  my  own,  no  will  of  my  own,  no 
substance,  no  life,  apart  from  my  original.  He  is 
the  Self.  We,  in  our  spiritual  selfhood,  are  His 
ideas,  His  activity,  and  have  no  other  sources  of 
action.  Our  source  or  Principle  is  God.  He  de- 
termines what  we  are,  and  therefore  what  we  shall 
always  do. 

The  processes  called  loving,  thinking  the  good, 
and  knowing  the  truth,  are  going  on  in  this  idea 
which  I  call  by  my  name;  but  God  is  the  one  who 
initiates  and  carries  on  these  processes.  He  is  de- 
fining the  Idea  called  by  my  name.  We  say  "  I 
love,"  but  we  really  mean  by  this  that  our  capacity 
to  love,  which  is  always  operating,  is  involved  in 
God's  activity.  As  the  ocean,  in  moving,  breaks 
into  waves,  each  of  which  is  but  the  ocean  itself  in 
action;  or  as  the  sun,  in  shining,  diffuses  itself  in 
rays;  so  the  Divine  Mind  makes  for  spiritual  ideas, 
one  of  which  I  call  by  my  name,  another  you  call  by 
yours.  Man's  activity  is,  therefore,  God's  activity. 
He  is  always  a  child.     The  everlasting  arms  are 


1 62  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

always  about  him:  he  feels  the  flow  of  life,  and 
knows  that  it  is  God  who  is  his  Father  and  his 
Mother,  his  all-in-all.  "  I  and  my  Father  are  one," 
said  the  Master.  God  delighteth  in  you  and  in  me, 
and  in  all  beings. 

"  The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit, 
that  we  are  the  children  of  God  "  (Romans  8 :  16). 

An  idea  cannot  exist  at  all  without  its  original, 
its  Mind,  and  it  is  one  in  nature  and  essence  with 
this  original.  All  true  ideas  are  spiritual,  for  the  God 
Mind  that  thinks  them  is  Spirit.  We  and  all  things, 
as  God's  ideas,  are  spiritual,  and  our  spirituality  is  as- 
sured by  virtue  of  this,  our  divine  origin.  We,  the 
Sons  (individual  spiritual  beings),  image  the  ful- 
ness of  divine  Mind.  Moreover,  as  we  have  said, 
all  real  being  is  protected  from  anything  unlike  the 
divine,  the  spiritual, —  that  is,  from  the  so-called 
finite  and  physical, —  since  only  that  which  is  in- 
volved in  God  has  being. 

All  real  men,  therefore,  are  through  and  through 
spiritual.  They  are  experiencing  true  ideas,  good 
and  loving  ideas,  joy,  power,  and  peace;  that  is,  our 
experiences  are  confined  to  those  which  belong  to 
Life  or  Being.     In  a  word,  spiritual  experiences  con- 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH        163 

stitute  the  whole  of  my  real  being.  God  is  my 
Life. 

If  some  one  should  ask  of  what  are  all  beings 
made,  what  constitutes  their  life,  we  must  answer: 
the  living  and  substantial  thought-forces  of  the  di- 
vine Mind. 

That  we  may  try  to  make  this  conception  of  our- 
selves clear,  let  us  consider  the  nature  of  our  experi- 
ence when  we  love  our  neighbours  as  ourselves. 
This  spiritually  mental  state  is  a  Life  force,  a  sub- 
stance-force. Think  "  how  it  feels  "  to  be  conscious 
of  good;  again  remind  yourself  that  this  spiritual 
state  is  also  a  Life  force,  a  Substance  force.  Recall 
your  state  of  mind  when  at  some  moment  you  knew 
a  truth.  That  spiritual  experience  is  also  substantial 
and  living.  Joy  and  peace,  and  all  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  which  we  know  so  well,  are  spiritual  experi- 
ences which  are  substantial  and  living.  We  live  by 
virtue  of  just  these  spiritual  experiences,  whose 
source  is  God. 

Contrast  such  a  conception  of  what  is  substantial 
and  living  with  the  popular  conception,  made  up,  as 
it  is,  of  the  false  belief  that  the  nervous  system,  the 
heart  and  lung  action,   are  life  giving;  the  belief, 


1 64  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

also,  that  those  knowings  and  feelings  which  are 
based  upon  material  sense  belong  to  our  real  being. 

We  have  the  spiritual  assurance  that  all  being  is 
of  the  nature  of  Mind,  Spirit;  that  there  is  only  this 
one  Source  from  which  life  can  spring.  And  since 
only  thoughts  belong  wholly  to  the  mental  realm,  and 
only  spiritual  thoughts  have  their  being  in  Mind, 
Spirit,  we  shall  gain  the  spiritual  apprehension  of 
man,  and  so  of  our  true  selfhood,  by  the  substitution 
of  the  activity  of  divine  Mind  for  all  phenomena 
of  sense  experience.  We  are  beginning  to  realise 
that  spiritual  life  currents,  fresh  from  the  heart  of 
God  are  active  everywhere,  without  fatigue  or  effort, 
without  cessation  and  without  change. 

When  we  say  that  the  activities  of  Spirit  consti- 
tute all  being,  we  make  a  definition  of  being  which 
is  all  inclusive.  That  the  physical  is  left  out  in  this 
definition  of  Being,  is  a  little  startling  at  first,  but 
nevertheless  very  much  to  be  rejoiced  over.  Such 
a  definition  does  not  annihilate  the  physical  order, 
but  shows  that  it  has  always  belonged  to  the  realm 
of  false  sense,  and  never  to  that  of  real  being.  If 
this  seems  to  be  destructive,  it  will  be  seen  upon 
closer  investigation  that  wherever  we  have  assaulted 
the  seeming,  we  have  done  it  to  disclose  the  real. 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       165 

And  now  that  we  have  defined  what  to  us  is  the  real, 
we  will  define  the  unreal. 

Our  definition  of  Reality  shows  that  to  us  noth- 
ing can  be  included  in  Being  which  is  not  in  accord 
with  the  nature  and  essence  of  God;  and  that,  there- 
fore, anything  unlike  Him  must  be  recognised  as  un- 
real. There  are  so-called  ideas,  feelings,  and  will, 
which  cannot  be  u  predicated  of  Reality,"  which  can- 
not be  thought  by  God,  because  unlike  Him.  These 
are,  therefore,  but  seemings,  and  the  seeming  activity 
involved  is  not  thinking.  The  word  M  unreality  M 
stands  for  just  these  thoughts  which  God  could  not 
think,  together  with  the  suppositional  sense  which 
seems  to  think  them.  This  suppositional  sense 
which  seemingly  thinks  "  our  "  finite  thoughts  and 
shares  their  illusory  character  is,  in  scriptural  lan- 
guage, called  "  the  carnal  mind  "  or  "  the  devil." 
11  Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of 
your  father  ye  will  do.  He  was  a  murderer  from 
the  beginning,  and  abode  not  in  the  truth,  because 
there  is  no  truth  in  him.  When  he  speaketh  a  lie, 
he  speaketh  of  his  own;  for  he  is  a  liar,  and  the 
father  of  it  M  (John  8  :  44) . 

Why  this  illusory  mind  and  its  beliefs  seem  to  be 
present  and  claim  to  be  real,  we  do  not  know;  but 


1 66  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

the  important  thing,  from  a  practical  standpoint, 
is  that  we  should  recognise  their  illusory  character. 
All  the  material  beliefs  which  appear  as  the  physical 
world  come  under  the  head  of  that  which  is  not  so; 
and  the  appearance  of  a  false  conception  is  also 
false, —  but  the  sign  of  nothing.  This  physical,  so- 
called  world  is  such  a  sign. 

Looking  back  upon  what  we  have  said,  we  find 
that  we  have  defined  Reality  as  divine  Mind  and  its 
manifestations.  We  have  defined  man  and  all  real 
beings  as  the  ideas  of  divine  Mind.  We  have  de- 
fined unreality  as  a  false  material  sense  and  its 
phenomena.  Our  claim  that  this  suppositional 
sense,  its  conceptions  and  its  appearance  world,  are 
unreal,  is  based  upon  our  understanding  that  its  own 
nature  excludes  it  from  the  divine,  and,  therefore, 
from  the  Real.  The  whole  problem  has  thus  re- 
duced itself  to  two  minds,  one  suppositional  and  the 
other  real;  and  this  gives  us  the  keynote  to  all  ef- 
fective work.  To  successfully  unsee  evil  we  must 
direct  our  efforts,  not  toward  a  denial  of  that  which 
is  not,  but  toward  a  realisation  of  the  perfection 
which  is.     It  already  exists. 

We  are  now  ready  to  draw  conclusions  from  these 
main  statements,  and  to  illustrate  the  way  in  which 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       167 

they  may  be  put  to  practical  use.1  And  our  success 
in  applying  the  following  conclusions  to  everyday 
problems  will  depend  largely  upon  our  first  knowing 
just  what  the  false  beliefs  are  which  are  bringing 
evil  appearances  into  our  lives.  To  this  end,  one 
must  analyse  all  the  thoughts  in  any  given  situation 
in  the  light  of  what  is  true.  By  this  light  he  will 
see  that  some  of  these  thoughts  in  the  situation  are 
true,  while  others  are  but  false  beliefs;  the  elements 
called  physical  M  substance  "  and  law  being  no  excep- 
tion. 

After  the  analysis  has  revealed  the  thoughts  which 
are  untrue,  the  next  step  is  to  see  that  although  the 
untrue  beliefs  have  seemed  to  be  presented  to  us, 
yet  they  can  never  be  accepted  as  true  by  a  truth- 
knowing  capacity.  They  and  their  appearances  are 
always  outside  of  my  real  self.  They  are  appar- 
ently trying  to  gain  admittance  to  the  realm  of  the 
real, —  yet  always  in  vain.  This  takes  away  our 
fear.  No  matter  what  seems  to  happen,  our  real 
natures  are  as  untouched  by  illusion  as  is  the  gold  by 
the  earth  which  clings  to  it.  Could  the  gold  know  it- 
self as  we  can,  the  earth  would  fall  away  from  it. 

1  See  chapter  XIII. 


1 68  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  HOW  THE  CONCLUSIONS 

DERIVED  FROM  OUR  MAIN  STATEMENTS 

MAY  BE  PUT  TO  PRACTICAL  USE  2 

The  analysis  of  the  situation  shows  that  the  false 
belief  of  worthlessness  seems  3  to  be  present. 

THE  WAY  TO  GAIN  AN  ENLARGED  SENSE  OF  BEING 

We  must  realise  that  our  real  life  and  being  con- 
sists of  experiencing,  loving  and  manifesting  God 
and  His  ideas.  Therefore,  when  we  seem  to  be 
lacking  in  any  activity,  let  us  hasten  to  become  con- 
scious of  our  perfection,  as  a  perfect  capacity  which 
is  operating  to  love  and  express  God  and  His  Ideas. 
Perhaps  the  most  effective  way  of  making  one  aware 
that  the  perfect  activity  of  the  Christ  mind  is  going 
on  in  each  of  us,  is  in  quietness  to  realise  the  full 
truth  of  that  which  it  alone  can  realise,  viz:  that 

2  The  author  suggests  that  the  following  arguments  can 
best  be  understood  by  not  merely  reading  them  over ;  but  that 
when  any  temptation  —  some  small  ignoble  thought  — 
arises,  that  then  it  might  be  found  here;  and,  as  a  remedy, 
the  contradicting  argument  should  be  persistently  held  in 
thought  and  the  results  noted. 

8  "  We  say  seems  because,  in  reality,  truth  alone  is  defined 
to  us." 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       169 

man,  our  true  selfhood,  is  good,  truth  knowing, 
strong,  beautiful,  full  of  life,  and  joyful,  because  he 
is  God's  image  and  likeness.  In  proportion  to  our 
realisation  of  the  reality  of  our  infinite  and  God- 
given  capacity  we  make  its  truth  knowing,  its 
strength,  joy  and  life  apparent  to  others.  In  trying 
to  render  true  service  to  those  about  us,  without  fail- 
ing any  one  in  any  way,  we  become  keenly  alive  to 
the  need  of  a  divine  capacity  and  any  action,  how- 
ever small,  which  is  truthful,  loving  and  adequate 
demands  activity  of  such  a  capacity,  and  thus  gives 
us  an  added  and  a  nobler  sense  of  Being  or  Life,  in 
that  which  we  call  by  our  name.  Loyalty  to  its 
original  is  a  foregone  virtue  in  a  reflected  thing; 
since,  therefore,  my  true  being  lies  in  reflecting  God; 
being  for  me,  means  being  sure  that  I  do  reflect  Him. 
In  all  I  do  I  must  be  as  happy,  as  full  of  joy  and 
peace,  as  full  of  life  as  He  is;  I  must  know  what  He 
knows  (the  truth)  ;  love  as  He  loves;  act  as  He  acts. 
All  His  love,  joy,  truth,  goodness,  wells  up  in  "  us," 
His  ideas.  We  are  as  springs  fed  from  a  pure  and 
inexhaustible  source;  as  flames  kept  clear  by  a  divine 
fire;  this  is  the  Christ  life.  If  one  demonstrably 
knows  the  truth,  is  consciously  joyous,  loving,  and 
good,  in  spite  of  the  temptations  of  the  mortal  mind, 


170  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

he  experiences  a  feeling  that  he  is  being  himself,  as 
indeed  he  is. 

The  analysis  of  the  situation  shows  that  the  false 
belief  in  inefficiency  seems  to  be  present. 

THE    WAY    TO    GAIN    EFFECTIVENESS    AND    EASE    IN 
ACTION,   IN  ART 

We  must  realise  that  "  our  "  real  activity  is  a  func- 
tion of  God,  infinite  Mind,  and  is  therefore  perfect 
and  always  operative.  This  real  activity  upon  our 
part,  which  is  always  going  on,  is  a  consciousness:  a 
knowing,  loving,  and  expressing  of  that  which  Mind 
is  imaging  in  us.  Through  such  a  realisation,  single- 
ness of  purpose,  directness,  ease,  spontaneity,  grace, 
rhythm,  fearlessness,  and  success  are  manifested  in 
all  of  "  our  "  activities.  To  realise  that  we  are  a 
"  flash  of  the  will  that  can,"  that  God  is,  in  all  cases, 
the  primary  actor,  in  which  our  action  is  inevitably 
involved,  is  to  lose  the  sense  of  strife  and  enter  a 
region  where  we  find  ourselves  without  effort  and 
without  fear;  where  there  is  only  the  seeing  of  a 
goal  and  the  steps  leading  to  its  attainment;  and  we, 
not  disobedient  unto  the  heavenly  vision.  The 
artist  looks  and  listens  and  when  he  has  heard  and 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       171 

seen  what  God  is  thinking  and  doing,  he  reproduces 
God's  ideas  in  sound,  in  colour,  and  in  form,  un- 
conscious of  technique. 

The  analysts  shows  the  false  beliefs  to  he  the  de- 
mands of  the  flesh. 

THE   WAY  TO   AWAKEN   A   DESIRE   FOR   GOOD,    AND 

STILL  MORTAL  IMPULSES,  THE   LUSTS 

OF  THE    FLESH 

We  must  realise  that  in  our  real  natures,  we  can 
only  desire  to  know,  to  love,  and  to  express  the  activi- 
ties of  Mind;  since  the  real  nature  of  each  of  us, 
as  an  idea  of  God,  is  to  image  or  reflect  Him. 
Therefore,  I  can  have  no  other  desire  than  to  experi- 
ence Love,  and  manifest  its  divine  knowings,  its  di- 
vine feelings,  its  divine  will.  I  long  for  and  am 
satisfied  in  the  divine  Mind,  as  every  thought  must 
long  for  and  be  satisfied  by  the  Mind  that  thinks  it; 
as  every  reflected  thing  must  long  for  and  be  satis- 
fied by  its  source;  by  that  one  and  only  Being,  which, 
by  its  nature,  it  is  bound  to  desire.  In  that  one  and 
only  Being  which  completes  and  perfects  it,  it  is 
content.  I  shall  be  satisfied,  when  I  awake,  with  thy 
likeness  (Psalms  17:  15). 


172  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

The  analysis  shows  the  false  beliefs  to  he  fear  and 
the  desire  to  do  wrong. 

MAN   IS   A    SPIRITUAL    IDEA;    HENCE    HE    IN    HIS 

SPIRITUAL    SELFHOOD    CAN    HAVE    NO 

MORTAL   MIND  AND   CANNOT   SIN 

We  must  thus  realise  that  our  real  or  spiritual  con- 
sciousness with  its  phases  called  knowing,  loving,  and 
expressing  the  truth  is  put  in  operation  by  God  mo- 
mentarily and  forever;  and  therefore,  the  constancy 
and  perfection  of  the  spiritual  activity  constituting 
my  true  individuality  is  everlastingly  guaranteed. 
Seeming  activity  differing  from  this  perfection  has 
no  true  existence.  All  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit;  — 
peace,  joy,  love,  are  ours  to  experience;  whereas, 
thoughts  of  pain,  doubt,  loneliness,  discouragement, 
malice,  selfishness,  and  loss  really  cannot  be  real  ex- 
periences of  ours,  inasmuch  as  not  being  experienced 
by  infinite  Mind,  they  cannot  be  experienced  by  man, 
whose  only  function  is  to  image  His  activities. 

The  false  belief  in  the  body  as  physical  seems  to 
be  present. 

We  must  realise  that  Being  is  spiritual  and  there 
is  no  other.     Spiritual  Consciousness  alone  is  Life. 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH        173 

To  realise  this  truth  is  to  realise  that  there  is  no  ma- 
terial sense  being.4  In  reality,  then,  we  have  no 
physical  structures.  Our  parent  Mind,  God,  sup- 
ports us,  His  ideas.  The  material  sense  appear- 
ances called  bones,  muscles,  etc.,  represent  the  ficti- 
tious thoughts  of  what  we  call  the  mortal  mind;  and 
as  we  realise  true  spiritual  being  its  own  embodiment 
will  appear. 

Since  real  Life  is  spiritual,  it  is  utterly  divorced 
from  so-called  organic,  physical  being.  We  are  liv- 
ing, not  because  of  heart  and  lungs  and  other  physi- 
cal organs,  but  because  we  are  embraced  in  the 
Spiritual  Consciousness  which  is  Life.  All  so-called 
physical  processes  and  organs  are  a  seeming,  a  part 
of  the  veil.  No  physical  organ  could  bring  spiritual 
ideas  into  being  or  relation,  for  spiritual  ideas  can 
have  only  a  spiritual  being  and  relation,  and  this  is 
sustained  by  Mind  or  Spirit. 

Knowing  divine  truth,  loving  and  expressing  it, 
constitutes  the  activity  of  our  being;  but  such  states 
of  activity  are  spiritual,  and  therefore  it  is  a  self-evi- 

4  To  thus  see  that  the  material  sense  and  its  thoughts  are 
untrue  is  also  to  reveal  as  unreal  the  appearances  called  the 
physical  world;  for  if  a  so-called  mind  is  unreal,  its  pro- 
jections are  manifestly  unreal  also. 


i74  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

dent  impossibility  to  attribute  them  to  a  physical  or- 
gan called  brain.  When  we  say  that  we  are  men- 
tally tired,  we  have  based  our  statement  upon  a  be- 
lief that  we  think  by  means  of  a  brain,  a  physical 
organ  which  is  subject  to  weariness.  To  rest  our- 
selves we  turn  away  from  corporeal  consciousness, 
which  holds  thought  as  dependent  upon  the  physical, 
and  realise  that  all  our  real  activity  is  spontaneous 
and  tireless,  for  it  is  spiritual  and  involved  in  Spirit. 
Divine  Mind  is  the  great  "  organ,"  if  you  will, 
which  is  present  everywhere,  imaging  Itself  and 
thinking  all  Ideas;  thus  bringing  man  and  all  real 
activity  into  being  and  into  relation.  But  God  is  not 
physical;  He  is  Spirit.  There  are  no  sensations 
either  of  pleasure  or  pain,  and  the  "  nervous  mech- 
anism "  which  is  supposed  to  be  responsible  for  such 
sensations  is  itself  unreal.  But  we  do  not  for  that 
reason  take  away  joy  from  our  lives;  on  the  contrary, 
we  can  lose  nothing  when  we  have  all. 

The  analysis  shows  the  false  belief  to  be  that  of 
undue  responsibility. 

THERE  ARE  NO  BURDENS  TO  CARRY 

Activity  upon  our  part  is  spontaneous.     We  can 
have  no  burden,  no  care  in  life,  for  God  is  support- 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH        175 

ing  us.  This  can  only  be  made  manifest  here  and 
now,  however,  through  our  recognition  that  man's 
activity  is  involved  in  God's  activity.  As  we  know 
and  realise  this,  we  suddenly  find  ourselves  doing  the 
necessary  thing  almost  without  knowing  it,  and  cer- 
tainly without  the  old  sense  of  burden  bearing. 

The  analysis  of  the  situation  shows  the  false  belief 
to  he  antagonism. 

HARMONY  EXISTS   IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF 
HEAVEN 

We  must  realise  that  we  are  related  to  all  per- 
sons and  things  and  they  to  us,  as  those  ideas  must  be 
which  go  to  make  up  the  unity  called  the  Divine 
Mind.  Therefore,  there  can  be  no  such  condition  as 
lack  of  companionship  or  friends,  as  lack  of  brother- 
hood, or  co-operation  in  work.  The  true  desire  can 
assure  itself  of  complete  co-operation  from  others. 
Even  in  the  face  of  apparent  antagonism  we  may 
realise  that  since  harmony  is  the  law  of  Being,  there 
can  be  no  real  resistance  in  the  minds  of  others  to 
our  true  aims,  but  rather  the  spirit  of  divine  helpful- 
ness. Man  must  bring  out  his  world  by  reason  of 
the  power  that  worketh  in  him,  for  as  Jesus  said: 


176  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

— "  It  is  the  Father  that  doeth  the  works  and  it  is 
His  good  pleasure  to  give  us  the  Kingdom." 

Since  there  can  be  no  antagonism  between  the 
ideas  embraced  in  divine  Mind,  which  is  a  unity,  no 
man  can  dislike  us,  no  friend  in  truth  cease  to  love 
us,  nothing  can  poison  us,  no  plague  come  nigh  our 
dwelling. 

Suppose,  however,  we  find  an  apparent  discord 
and  antagonism  between  ourselves  and  others,  or  be- 
tween ourselves  and  the  east  wind,  between  our  eyes 
and  light,  between  our  ears  and  sound.  We  must 
banish  such  false  conceptions  by  understanding  that 
there  is  nothing  anywhere,  the  real  nature  of  which 
is  unlike  God.  Any  two  things,  each  wholly  reflect- 
ing God,  cannot  be  at  any  point  in  discord  with  one 
another.  Harmony  reigns  in  the  kingdom  of  Mind. 
We  and  all  beings,  the  ideas  of  that  Mind,  are  at 
peace.3     We  love  one   another.     We  must  realise 

5  If  two  disagree,  it  must  be  due  to  the  fact  that  one  or 
both  are  not  thinking  things  as  they  are.  Therefore,  in 
apparent  disagreement,  our  comfort  consists  in  knowing  that 
in  the  bottom  of  each  of  our  hearts  lies  that  which,  when  we 
both  find  it,  will  make  us  aware  of  our  oneness.  The  hold- 
ing of  this  hidden  unity  in  mind  makes  our  understanding 
of,  and  sympathy  with,  one  another  appear  more  and  more; 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       177 

that  each  person  and  thing,  in  its  real  nature,  is  the 
most  lovable  being  that  could  be,  and  therefore  is 
just  what  we  by  our  own  natures  are  impelled  to  love. 
It  follows  also,  since  our  experiences  image  His, 
that  we  see  every  other  idea  of  God's  just  as  He 
sees  it,  that  is,  as  perfect.  In  the  light  of  such  see- 
ing we  cannot  help  loving  one  another. 

The  analysis  shows  that  the  false  belief  in  the 
reality  of  evil  seems  to  be  present. 

THERE  IS  NO  EVIL 

We  must  realise,  when  once  we  have  granted  the 
truth  of  the  spiritual  insight,  that  the  Real  is  a  king- 
dom where  God,  the  One,  is  all  in  all;  we  know 
that  there  can  be  no  evil,  for  God, —  that  One,  that 
All  in  All, —  is  good.  We  must  realise  that  since 
there  can  be  no  kingdom  but  that  of  the  Real,  and 
that  Real  being  good,  in  reality  there  is  left  no  place 
for  evil  of  any  kind  anywhere.  We  and  all  beings 
must  be  sinless  in  our  real  natures,  since  we  are  the 
expression  of  the  activities  of  good. 

in  reality  we  are  all  congenial,  and  there  is  no  exception  to 
this  rule  of  universal  comradeship. 


178  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

Analysis  of  the  situation  shows  that  the  false  be- 
liefs of  ignorance  and  of  an  uncongenial  environment 
seem  to  be  present.  Education  is  the  only  remedy 
for  illusion. 

EDUCATION   IS   A   SPIRITUAL   PROCESS 

It  consists  in  coming  to  know  the  truth  about  the 
ideas  which  God  has  imaged  in  us,  and  in  learning 
to  express  that  which  we  know.  As  we  know  an 
idea,  its  form  is  revealed  to  us.  We  must  realise 
that  we  know  the  truth  because  God  is  always  telling 
it  to  us.  We  are  His  image,  and  in  this  image  all 
God's  knowing  activities  are  always  being  imaged 
by  Him.  Moreover,  we  are  that  through  which 
God  manifests  His  ideas.  Therefore  it  is  not 
enough  for  one  to  be  aware  that  he  is  a  truth-know- 
ing, a  loving,  activity;  but  he  must  become  aware 
of  what  he  knows  and  what  he  feels,  that  he  may 
manifest  to  others  his  individual  consciousness  of 
truth.  He  must  realise  this  individual  expression 
to  be  a  duty.  It  is  his  vocation.  He  must  be 
obedient  unto  his  heavenly  vision. 

All  this  has  a  very  direct  bearing  upon  our  rela- 
tion with  our  environment,  which  takes  on  a  very 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH        179 

sacred  significance  when  we  interpret  it  as  made  up 
of  ideas  which  God  has  imaged  in  us  for  the  purpose 
of  having  them  expressed.  God  gives  us  our  en- 
vironment, and  means  that  this  particular  form  of 
perfection  shall  come  to  individual  expression 
through  us.  It  is  our  duty  then,  to  know  the  perfect 
about  all  these  ideas  which  God  puts  in  our  way, — 
whether  they  are  what  we  call  people  or  things. 
We  must  love  this  real  part  of  each  person  and  each 
thing,  and  we  discover  it  through  knowing  it  to  be 
there.     We  then  express  that  which  we  see. 

We  are  in  this  way  responsible  for  the  world  of 
appearance  about  us.  If  perfection  does  not  appear 
in  our  environment,  we  are  obliged  to  attach  a  meas- 
ure of  blame  to  ourselves;  for  a  full  realisation  of 
its  perfection  upon  our  part,  could  not  have  failed  to 
make  the  existing  perfect  appear. 

In  this  matter  of  education  we  must  remember 
that  there  are  things  which  we  now  know,  love,  and 
express,  but  that  God  is  always  bringing  us  to  a 
greater  realisation  of  the  significance  of  these  fa- 
miliar ideas,  and  is  also  imaging  in  us  additional 
ideas  which  we  must  learn  to  know;  and  our  expres- 
sion must  keep  pace  with  our  knowledge.     This, 


180  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

the  only  real  progress,  results  from  activity  on  the 
part  of  that  Christ  Consciousness  which  alone  can 
know  God's  ideas,  or  the  truth. 

Since  man  originates  in  God,  he  is  spiritual;  and 
the  aim  of  education,  therefore,  must  be  to  awaken 
men  to  the  realisation  of  their  spiritual  capacity  and 
lead  them  to  the  point  of  expressing  it.  Then  man 
will  have  fulfilled  the  saying  of  Jesus:  u  I  and  my 
Father  are  one."  Thus  mankind  has  much  to  learn 
upon  a  spiritual  basis.  This  can  only  be  effected  by 
leaving  the  old  landmarks,  and  making  a  new  be- 
ginning in  the  spiritual  direction  by  using  the  spirit- 
ual consciousness  alone  as  a  means  of  knowing  all 
truth.     It  follows  from  the  foregoing  that 

ILLUSIONS    AND   THEIR    CONDITIONS    ARE 
UNNECESSARY 

It  is  the  allowing  wrong  assertions, —  illusory  be- 
liefs,— "  to  present  themselves  to  us  "  without  con- 
tradicting them,  which  makes  us  subject  to  such  illu- 
sory appearances  as  sorrow,  fatigue,  failure,  sin, 
sickness,  and  death.  Since  we  are  equipped  to  un- 
derstand God's  ideas,  which  invariably  lead  us  to 
good,  why  do  we  allow  a  wrong  assertion,  such  as 
2x2  equals  5,  to  go  uncorrected?  But  if  we  insist 
upon  doing  so,  we  must  admit  that  we  are  remaining 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH        181 

under  a  self-imposed  and  unnecessary  bondage.  In 
thinking  out  any  problem,  then,  we  must  listen  to 
God's  voice  speaking  in  our  hearts,  telling  us  what 
we  shall  know  and  do,  and  thus  we  shall  be  led  into 
all  good,  through  obedience  to  His  truth.  When  we 
do  wrong,  we  can  under  no  condition  defend  our- 
selves with  the  plea  of  innocence,  for  the  ability  to 
know  the  truth,  which  each  of  us  possesses,  includes 
the  knowing  of  the  right  from  wrong. 

The  analysis  shows  that  the  false  beliefs  of  lack 
and  loss  seem  to  be  present. 

POSSESSION 

IT  IS  OUR  FATHER'S  GOOD  PLEASURE  TO  GIVE  US  THE 

KINGDOM 

a.    WE   POSSESS  OUR   OWN    BEING 

We  can  never  cease  to  possess  our  being,  and  in 
its  fulness;  for  the  very  source  of  all  being  is  the 
eternal  Mind,  whose  ideas  we  are.  Eternal  Mind 
cannot  be  otherwise  than  active,  and  therefore 
permanence  is  assured  to  that  individual  intelligence, 
love,  power,  my  real  self,  which  is  the  manifestation 
of  this  activity.  To  put  it  quite  simply,  we  may 
say:  —  Since  ideas  necessarily  co-exist  with  the 
Mind  that  contains  and  sustains  them,  permanence 


1 82  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

is  assured  to  real  being,  for  this  Mind  is  eternal. 
The  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life. 

b.    WE   POSSESS   GOD 

We  possess  our  consciousness  of  God  and  of  our 
indissoluble  relation  to  Him,  to  Mind  that  thinks 
us,  which  is  our  origin.  It  is  not  sufficient  to  con- 
ceive of  this  relationship  as  a  mere  at-one-ment,  but 
we  must  realise  that  God  includes  us;  in  this  sense 
are  we  one  with  our  Father, —  one  in  nature  and  es- 
sence with  God. 

C.    WE    POSSESS    OUR    RELATIONS    WITH    OTHER    PEOPLE 

Divine  Mind  involves  individual  being  and  also 
related  being.  Each  one  of  us  is,  therefore,  perfect, 
not  only  as  an  individual,  but  as  an  individual  in  re- 
lation. We  know,  love,  serve,  and  take  joy  in,  one 
another.  This  constitutes  our  possession  of  one 
another. 

We  must  remind  ourselves  often  that  this  spir- 
itual relation  or  possession  is  the  only  one  which  can 
exist  between  the  ideas  of  spirit. 

d.   WE   POSSESS   OUR   RELATION    WITH    "  THINGS  " 

We  are  heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ 
(Romans  8  :  17).  We  inherit  all  good  things;  that 
is,  God  gives  them  to  us  to  know  and  to  love.  In 
knowing  and  loving  the  good  and  expressing  what 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH        183 

we  know,  we  are  related  to  it  spiritually,  and  such  a 
relation  is  possession,   and  cannot  be  broken. 

In  the  spiritual  kingdom  to  which  we  belong,  what 
I  possess  does  not  impoverish  another.  Therefore, 
in  true  possession  or  relation  I  need  not  fear  lest  I 
be  selfish.  Nor,  conversely,  need  I  fear  that  I  shall 
lose  anything,  though  love  demands  that  it  be  "  given 
away." 

Suppose  that  we  seem  to  have  lost  something 
which  we  once  possessed;  or  that  we  lack  something 
that  we  would  have.  Let  us  know  that  it  is  ours  in 
a  spiritual  sense;  that  is,  it  is  ours  to  know  and  love 
and  manifest  as  God's  idea  and  so  as  perfect.  This 
unselfish  loving  and  true  knowing  will  make  to  ap- 
pear that  spiritual  relation  between  us  which  never 
ceases  to  exist  between  the  ideas  of  God.  We  must 
be  sure  that  the  thoughts  which  we  know  and  love 
are  given  to  us  by  our  Christ  Mind, —  that  is,  are 
from  God;  otherwise,  we  shall  apparently  possess 
things  for  a  time  which  are  unreal;  and  then  in- 
evitably we  shall  apparently  pass  through  the  valley 
of  loss,  for  we  cannot  be  in  relation  with  unreality. 

Furthermore,  we  must  always  remember  that 
spiritual  relations  can  only  be  attained  to  by  the  use  of 
spiritual  means.     Thus  it  is  only  by  knowing,  lov- 


1 84  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

ing,  and  taking  joy  in,  good  for  its  own  sake  (for 
all  other  means  are  unspiritual)  that  we  can  make 
to  appear  the  real  relation  or  possession  which  ex- 
ists between  ourselves  and  the  other  ideas  of  God. 

The  appearance  in  our  lives  of  spiritual  or  real 
good,  although  apparently  gained  for  a  time, —  but 
by  false  means,  by  untrue  conceptions, —  will  dis- 
appear. 

This  knowing  and  loving  of  God  and  his  states 
of  consciousness  constitutes  the  only  real  relation  or 
possession.  This  genuine  possession  has  its  real  ap- 
pearance, which,  however,  rarely  comes  into  un- 
clouded view  now;  for  while  the  mortal  sense  seems 
to  act  at  all,  its  material  appearances  may  be  likened 
to  a  veil  through  which  the  Real  is  made  to  appear 
as  material  things.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that 
after  having  a  true  idea  and  realising  to  a  certain 
extent  its  truth,  loving  it  devotedly,  and  acting  upon 
it  unquestioningly,  the  result  may  appear,  in  our 
present  stage  of  spiritual  development,  as  under  ma- 
terial forms.  These  forms  are  not  the  real,  how- 
ever, even  though  they  appear  as  a  seeming  result 
of  seeking  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  Neither  are 
they  like  to  the  Real.  We,  not  understanding,  often 
think  that  "  material  things  "   constitute  the  good, 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       185 

and  we  try  to  hold  on  to  these  "  things,"  which  are 
but  an  inadequate  symbol  of  the  real. 

We  sometimes  may  be  obliged  to  learn  this  noth- 
ingness of  things  by  apparently  going  through  the 
valley  of  loss.  But  the  so-called  loss  of  things  is 
only  illusory,  since  we  cannot  lose  by  letting  the  un- 
real go.  And  we  might  call  such  an  experience  the 
valley  of  awakening  to  possession,  for  in  it,  as  the 
untrue  conceptions  are  seen  to  stand  for  things  we 
cannot  keep,  the  real  ideas  come  more  and  more 
clearly  into  view,  and  make  to  appear  our  everlasting 
possessions. 

Let  us  each  day  remind  ourselves,  then,  that  spirit- 
ual thoughts,  ideas,  alone  constitute  our  possessions; 
that  from  the  standpoint  of  the  real,  we  can  pos- 
sess nothing  but  those  spiritual  ideas  which  are  al- 
ways in  divine  Mind  for  us  to  know  and  love.  The 
material  veil,  the  appearance  woven  by  mortal 
thought,  seems  to  clothe  the  spiritual  ideas  and  dis- 
tinguish them;  but  let  us  not  mistake  this  sheep's 
clothing  for  the  white  raiment  in  which  all  true  ideas 
will  appear,  as  mortals  put  off  the  old  man  and  be- 
come clothed  in  their  right  minds. 

In  proportion  as  we  set  our  hearts  upon  loving, 
knowing,   and  expressing  true   ideas,   and   realising 


1 86  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

that  they  do  not  appear  as  material  things,  do  we 
pass  beyond  the  stage  where  the  beautiful  Real  is 
hidden  under  the  guise  of  temporal  things;  and  lit- 
tle by  little  come  into  that  heavenly  estate  where, 
unblinded  by  mortal  sense,  we  see  ourselves  in  ever- 
lasting possession  of  the  ideas  of  Truth,  appearing 
in  their  own  way,  and  without  a  material  accompani- 
ment. 

Thus  it  is  plain  to  us  that  the  secret  of  loss  lies 
in  the  simple  fact  that  we  are  apparently  deceived 
into  thinking  that  possession  is  other  than  the  ac- 
tivity of  the  Christ  mind. 

The  analysis  shows  that  inertia  seems  to  he 
present. 

THE   CHRIST  MIND  IS  ALWAYS  ACTIVE  AND 
FEARLESS 

The  realisation  of  truth  leaves  one  in  no  passive 
condition.  To  know  that  in  the  nature  and  essence 
of  one's  being  he  is  loving,  will  impel  him  to  an  ac- 
tive expression  of  his  love.  He  will  feel  its  nat- 
uralness and  become  spontaneous.  So,  too,  to  know 
that  in  the  nature  of  one's  being  he  is  a  truth-know- 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       187 

ing  activity,  will,  in  a  sense,  compel  him  to  express 
the  truth. 

It  is  clear,  furthermore,  that  since  Mind  can  hold 
no  thought  of  fear,  we,  as  we  come  to  realise  our 
true  selfhood,  cannot  fear.  This  is  made  easy,  also, 
by  an  awakening  to  the  fact  that  because  of  the  all- 
ness  and  omnipresence  of  good,  fear  is  groundless. 

The  analysis  shows  that  the  false  belief  of  sadness 
seems  to  be  present. 

JOY   IS  OURS 

There  is  nothing  left  to  the  people  of  God  but 
to  be  joyful.  As  Paul  says,  "  Rejoice  evermore." 
"  Rejoice  in  the  Lord  always;  and  again  I  say,  re- 
joice. "  Surely  we  must  rejoice,  when  we  know  that 
all  good,  all  beauty  and  all  truth  are  ours, —  peace, 
strength,  love,  power, —  throughout  all  time.  All 
good  things  are  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit,  and  there- 
fore we  cannot  escape  them.6 

6  As  quickly  as  possible  we  must  learn  to  enter  into  spirit- 
ual states  of  mind,  and  that  without  dwelling  upon  a  denial 
of  the  reality  of  matter  and  the  mortal  sense, —  which  very 
denial  seems  oftentimes  to  give  place  and  power.  Let  us 
rather  bring  the  light  by  dwelling  upon  the  spiritual,  the 


188  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

The  foregoing  realisation  of  Truth  has  brought 
me  a  certain  sense  of  immunity  from  evil  which  has 
been  of  infinite  value,  and  it  has  led  me  to  see  that 
a  more  detailed  and  more  exact  knowledge  of  my 
capacity,  of  my  life  functions,  and  of  my  body  and 
its  relation  to  me,  would  increase  this  sense  of  im- 
munity and  better  enable  me  to  bring  it  to  others. 
The  following  pages  give  a  richer,  fuller  concept  of 
that  which  has  given  me  this  added  sense  of  free- 
dom. 

TRUTH    KNOWING   AND   TRUE    SELFHOOD 

The  Christ  Activity,  or  the  consciousness  begot- 
ten of  God,  is  the  real  consciousness  of  each  one  of 
us.  It  alone  can  know  God's  ideas.  It  knows  that 
it  knows  some  Ideas,  knows  what  they  are,  and 
knows  where  its  knowledge  comes  from,  and  it  is 
always  coming  to  understand  more  and  more  of  what 
God  knows ;  and  like  God,  man  always  expresses  his 
consciousness  of  Being. 

Whatever  the  occasions  may  be  with  which  we 
are  dealing  in  our  life  experiences,  we  must  recog- 

true,  the  good,  the  beautiful, —  all  that  is  real ;  upon  its 
omniscience,  omnipresence,  and  omnipotence.  This  is  the 
more  effectual,  the  better  way. 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       189 

nise  that  the  outward  appearances  are  only  the  visi- 
ble signs  of  that  which  is  invisible,  and  which  we 
call  Ideas.  These  are  perfect  and  unchangeable 
and  can  never  be  taken  from  the  Mind  that  defines 
them.     Spirit  is  the  source  of  all  right  ideas. 

There  are  essential  elements  of  Truth,  and  they 
belong  to  every  divine  idea.  Consciousness  of  any 
idea,  therefore,  necessitates  the  consciousness  of  these 
essential  elements  such  as  rhythm,  harmony,  beauty, 
purity,  unity,  love,  morality,  relativity,  etc. 

When  one  has  solved  even  the  simplest  problem 
in  mathematics,  he  has  acquired  a  knowledge  of 
mathematics,  and  his  further  progress  in  this  direc- 
tion will  consist  simply  in  an  increase  of  this  knowl- 
edge and  its  expression.  If  I  know  one  melody,  I 
have  a  knowledge  of  music,  its  nature  and  appeal. 
Then  I  must  go  on  to  know  more  melodies,  and  must 
come  to  apprehend  more  of  those  ideas  which  are 
involved  in  each  melody.  This  may  be  called  a 
process  of  definition,  and  will  take  all  eternity. 

Although  the  truth  will  be  apprehended  by  us  in 
its  more  complex  forms  as  time  goes  on,  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  Source  of  Truth,  and  the  capacity 
which  is  operating  to  know  the  truth,  remains  the 
same,  and  always  with  us;  thus,  our  activity  differs 


190  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

only  in  degree  from  time  to  time;  while,  in  kind,  it 
is  the  same.  One  person  may  know  one  idea,  an- 
other two  ideas.  The  capacity,  however,  is  not  dif- 
ferent in  the  two  men.  They  are  both  knowing  the 
truth.  Since  every  Idea  contains  the  same  essential 
elements  of  truth,  I  do  not  have  to  know  all  ideas 
at  once  in  order  to  make  sure  that  I  have  found  and 
am  maintaining  my  true  selfhood,  my  spiritual  in- 
tegrity. I  am  fulfilling  the  conditions  of  a  truth- 
knowing  capacity,  in  that  I  have  a  real  consciousness, 
at  any  given  moment,  of  some  ideas;  and  they  are 
just  those  ideas  which  are  essential  to  the  needs  of 
my  individuality  at  that  moment.  It  may  not  be 
essential  for  me  to  know  what  painting  is  until  some 
to-morrow;  yet  meanwhile,  because  of  my  needs,  I 
know  what  music  is,  or  botany,  and  shall  know,  as 
time  goes  on,  not  only  what  painting  is,  but  all  that 
God  knows. 

Thus  each  one  of  us,  as  a  Truth-Knowing  Ca- 
pacity, is  always,  in  this  sense,  a  perfect  being;  for 
there  is  never  a  moment  when  he  is  not  knowing 
some  divine  ideas,  knowing  that  he  knows  them, 
and  knowing  what  they  are;  and  his  progress 
simply  consists  in  knowing  more  ideas  in  the  same 
way.     The  real,  individual  man  or  consciousness  is 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       191 

always  going  from  perfection  to  perfection;  and 
God  Himself  is  urging  us  on  to  this  knowing,  and  is 
giving  us  all  power  and  freedom  to  express  what 
we  know. 

When  a  new  manifestation  of  an  eternal  truth 
presents  itself,  which,  of  course,  involves  a  new  ex- 
perience for  me,  I  can  immediately  predicate  of  it 
perfection.  That  is,  the  essential  elements  of  all 
right  Ideas, —  such  as  beauty,  rhythm,  and  harmony, 
—  are  there,  although  manifested  in  a  form  which 
is  new  to  me.  If,  whatever  may  happen,  we  realise 
perfection,  there  is  no  possibility  of  our  experienc- 
ing or  expressing  anything  else.  Defining,  loving, 
enjoying,  etc.,  are  all  fundamental  thinking  proc- 
esses in  God,  or  Mind,  dealing  with  ideas,  and  I 
must  be  conscious  of  all  these  processes,  as  well  as 
of  His  ideas,  which  are  the  objects  with  which  His 
thinking  processes  are  occupied. 

God  is  never  without  a  witness.  We  can  always 
know  Him.  That  is,  God,  the  origin  of  ideas,  is 
revealing  Himself  to  our  consciousness  through  the 
ideas  which  He  is  always  defining  to  us.  Ideas 
speak  of  their  Origin.  The  truths  which  we  need 
to  know  to-day  are  at  hand.  We  seek  for  them; 
God  defines  them;  and  they  reach  us.     Therefore, 


192  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

in  any  crisis  it  is  only  for  us  to  realise  what  these 
truths  are  that  we  are  already  knowing,7  in  order 
to  be  equal  to  any  emergency. 

LIFE 

Life  and  Spirit  being  one,  all  life  processes  are 
really  spiritual,  not  material.  These  spiritual  proc- 
esses originate  and  are  carried  on  primarily  in 
Spirit,  divine  Mind.  These  processes  are  knowing 
processes.  God  makes  these  knowing  activities  ap- 
parent to  man  through  the  Christ  Consciousness. 

The  Christ  Consciousness,  the  Son  of  God,  is  the 
full  manifestation  of  Mind.  In  that  consciousness 
all  functions  of  Life  are  imaged,  and  consequently 
it  expresses  all  the  functions  and  capacities  of  Mind. 

7  "  Few  see  the  familiar.  Nothing  is  more  common  than 
for  people  to  think  that  they  mean  objects  that  have  nothing 
to  do  with  themselves." —  Josiah  Royce. 

"  The  self  that  inquires,  either  inquires  without  meaning, 
or,  if  it  has  a  meaning,  this  meaning  exists  in  and  for  the 
larger  self  that  knows." — Josiah  Royce:  Spirit  of 
Modern  Philosophy,  page  372. 

"  Kant  it  was,  who,  despite  his  things  in  themselves,  first 
showed  us  that  nobody  really  means  an  object,  really  knows 
it,  or  doubts  or  aims  at  it,  unless  he  does  so  by  aiming  at  a 
truth  that  is  present  to  his  own  larger  self." — Josiah 
Royce:     Spirit  of  Modern  Philosophy,  page  373. 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH        193 

Every  individual  man,  in  his  real  consciousness,  is 
a  son  of  God,  and  as  such  is  capable  of  experiencing 
and  expressing  in  some  form  all  these  knowing  proc- 
esses and  their  products,  which  originate  and  are 
carried  on,  primarily,  in  Mind.  And  in  addition 
man  becomes  aware  of  what  these  capacities  for 
thought  and  action  are  and  he  expresses  them,  makes 
his  consciousness  of  them  appear.  God's  capacities 
for  knowing  and  acting  are  produced,  imaged  in  His 
every  child, —  they  are  thus  individualised.8 

Seeing, —  in  the  spiritual  sense  a  mode  of 
thought, —  is  a  function  of  Life;  that  is,  it  is  going 
on  in  Life,  in  Mind,  all  the  time,  and  it  is  defined  for 
us  in  man.  Seeing  is  thus  one  of  the  knowing  func- 
tions of  Life  individualised  in  man  of  which  men 
become  aware  and  express  as  the  Sons  of  God.  In 
each  individual  man  seeing  is  one  mode  of  knowing. 

What  is  happening  when  one  says,  "  I  hear  "  ? 
In  any  such  study  we  must  first  of  all  remember,  as 
we  have  said,  that  the  true  fact  concerning  any  man 
is  that  every  function  which  God  is  imaging  in  him 
and  which  belongs  to  him  as  an  individual  man,  is 
present  and  operative  in  consciousness  whether  he  is 

8  In  nature  and  in  essence  the  activities  in  each  Son  are 
just  the  same  as  the  activities  in  the  Father. 


i94  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

yet  aware  of  it  or  not.  We  will  now  apply  this  to 
the  particular  function  of  Hearing.  Hearing,  in  its 
true  meaning,  is  a  knowing  activity  of  God,  Spirit. 
This  spiritual  function  is  defining  itself  to  me,  my 
true  selfhood,  imaging  itself  in  my  consciousness, 
and  thus  I  hear.  There  is  never  a  time  when  the 
individual  consciousness  is  not  hearing  in  this  sense,9 
and  there  is  nothing  that  can  interfere  with  the  un- 
broken continuity  of  this  perfect,  spiritual  activity 
of  hearing,  whether  I  am  aware  of  it  or  not.  That 
is,  my  truth-knowing  capacity  is  always  operative. 
But  I  must  become  awake  to  this  function  of  hearing 
which  is  active  in  my  consciousness,  so  that  it  may 
fulfil  itself  in  me,  to  the  end  that  I  shall  give  expres- 
sion to  all  that  it  brings  me.  Every  man  has  all 
power  and  freedom  to  do  this,  and  in  so  far  as  he 
does  it,  the  ideas  of  infinite  Mind  appear.  Deaf- 
ness, or  any  other  limitation,  seems  to  be  true  to 
human  sense,  because  that  sense  has  not  yet  reached, 
with  respect  to  the  given  limitation,  the  realisation 
of  man's  perfection,  his  oneness  with  his  source, 

9  To  make  the  fact  of  hearing  as  a  subconscious  process 
clear,  we  may  recall  a  time  when  perhaps  we  have  been  very 
much  absorbed  in  reading,  and  therefore  have  not  realised 
that  we  have  been  hearing  bells  ringing  all  the  time. 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       195 

Spirit.  This  oneness  insures  the  unbroken  continu- 
ity of  perfect,  spiritual  hearing.  It  is  for  us  only 
to  understand  and  realise  that  perfection  which  is 
always  there,  in  all  right  consciousness,  including 
my  own;  and  what  I  realise,  must  appear.  When 
I  first  caught  a  glimpse  of  this  it  was  new  to  me. 
I  had  hitherto  thought  of  all  my  life  processes  as 
physical,  and  as  carried  on  by  so-called  physical 
organs. 

Hereafter,  I  will  use  the  terms,  hearing,  seeing, 
and  so  forth,  not  to  characterise  a  physical  process, 
but  to  signify  a  complex,  spiritual  process  of  Mind 
which  is  functioned  in  me.  And  in  the  seeming  ab- 
sence of  any  function  I  will  take  the  first  step  to- 
ward its  reappearance  by  thinking  it  entirely  away 
from  the  physical,  seeing  it  as  a  mode  of  thought  in 
God  or  Life.  I  will  reach  out  for  the  realisation  of 
what  the  function  is,  as  I  would  try  to  catch  a  melody 
by  listening  for  it  and  finding  it  as  thinkable.  This 
persistent  effort  will  bring  the  realisation  of  God 
with  us,  and  will  result  in  the  perfect  appearance 
of  the  function  in  question.  I  am  urged  by  God  to 
the  realisation  of  Truth.  It  is  our  Father's  good 
pleasure  to  give  us  the  kingdom.  In  this  process  of 
becoming   aware   of  an   individualised   function   of 


i96  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

God  there  is  no  pain  involved,  no  fear,  no  excite- 
ment. The  process  involved  in  real  knowing  is  a 
spiritual  process  in  God.  It  is  therefore  harmoni- 
ous and  joyous.  I  have  but  to  become  aware  and 
can  only  become  aware  of  whatever  knowing  activ- 
ity is  already  going  on  in  me. 

Every  spiritual  individuality  involves  the  capacity 
to  become  aware  of  itself  as  an  individualisation  of 
the  Knowing  Functions  of  Life;  to  become  aware 
of  what  this  individualised  Knowing  is  and  what 
it  knozvs;  and  the  individuality  involves  the  capacity 
to  manifest  that  of  which  it  is  aware. 

And  now  one  may  say,  /  know  what  I  am.  I  am 
one  of  the  individualisations  of  Consciousness,  of 
Mind,  which  each  day,  in  proportion  to  its  seeking, 
becomes  more  and  more  aware  of  itself  and  is  al- 
ways manifesting  that  of  which  it  is  aware.  There- 
fore, whatever  I  am  doing, —  whether  I  walk,  sing, 
or  work  with  my  hands, —  I  am  simply  realising  and 
objectifying  my  consciousness  of  what  God  has  de- 
fined to  me. 

All  knowing  and  acting  functions  secure  in  the 
citadel  of  Mind, —  therefore  safe;  I,  an  individual 
consciousness  or  spiritual  truth-knowing  activity,  an 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       197 

individualisation  of  God's  functions  for  knowing  and 
acting  (also  secure  in  Mind  and  therefore  perfect 
in  operation)  ;  —  what  opportunity  is  there  in  such 
a  plan  for  the  imperfect !  In  such  a  Reality  discord 
of  every  description  has  no  place,  no  power,  and 
I  see  this. 

THE   REAL   BODY 

Every  idea  is  in  Spirit,  in  Mind.  It  exists  there 
forever,  and  is  unchangeable.  For  instance,  melody 
is  a  musical  Idea.  This  Idea  and  all  its  individual 
expressions,  as  a  national  hymn,  or  a  Beethoven 
Symphony,  are  ideas  which  are  in  Mind,  and  they 
are  forever  unchangeable. 

God's  definition  of  every  idea  involves  the  spirit- 
ual activities  by  which  the  idea  itself  becomes  ap- 
parent to  consciousness,  and  to  these  activities  of 
Mind  we  give  the  name  of  Modes  of  Identification. 
These  musical  Ideas,  like  all  others,  have  their  own 
Modes  of  Identification  in  divine  Mind;  that  is, 
they  are  expressed  in  modes  of  thought  by  which 
Mind  makes  them  apparent  to  consciousness.  In 
the  case  of  musical  Ideas,  the  modes  of  identifica- 
tion are  aural  modes  of  thought,  and  through  them, 


i98  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

—  its  own  particular  modes, —  the  musical  ideas 
themselves  become  apparent  to  us.  Let  us  explain 
this  somewhat  in  detail. 

Mind  has  made  a  musical  Idea  or  any  other  idea 
apparent  to  me,  when  Mind  has  individualised  and 
imaged  it  in  my  individual  consciousness;  that  is,  in 
my  capacity  for  knowing  it.  This  image  of  the  Idea 
or  its  spiritual  phenomenon  in  my  consciousness,  is 
the  real  body  of  the  idea.  It  is  the  only  body  it  has. 
This  image  or  body  of  an  idea  by  which  the  idea 
becomes  known  to  me  is  Mind's  individualisation  in 
my  consciousness  of  the  idea's  modes  of  identifica- 
tion, viz :  those  spiritual  activities  in  Mind  by  which 
the  Idea  becomes  apparent  to  consciousness.10 

As  Mind  manifests  the  idea  of  melody  in  individ- 
ual melodies,  so  it  manifests  the  Idea  Man  in  in- 
dividual men  or  the  Sons  of  Man.  Mind  has  a 
mode  of  identification  for  Man,  and  Mind's  indi- 
vidualisation,—  in  an  individual  consciousness,  or 
Son  of  Man, —  of  this  mode,  is  that  image  or  spirit- 
ual  phenomenon  to  which  we  give  the  name  of  body. 

10  The  activities  of  Mind  by  which  an  idea  becomes  ap- 
parent to  consciousness  we  call  modes  of  identification. 
When  Mind  individualises  these  same  modes  in  Man's  con- 
sciousness, we  call  them  the  body  of  the  Idea. 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       199 

Thus  every  Son  of  Man  presents  two  aspects:  the 
individual  consciousness  which  experiences  and  ex- 
presses God's  knowing,  loving  and  acting;  and  that 
divine  mode  of  thought  or  image  by  which  this  in- 
dividual consciousness  or  Son  of  Man  is  made  ap- 
parent. 

We  now  see  that  the  body  of  an  individual  Son 
of  Man,  like  every  real  body  of  every  idea,  is  spirit- 
ual and  perfect;  that  its  office  is  to  make  the  idea 
itself  apparent;  u  that  it  is  involved  in  the  definition 
of  the  Idea  as  a  whole,  but  is  distinct  from,  although 
in  inseparable  relation  with,  the  individual  conscious- 
ness. The  relation  between  any  individual  con- 
sciousness and  its  body  is  analogous  to  the  relation 
between  a  melody  and  the  tones  which  express  it. 
The  melody  is  not  in  the  tones.  Melody  governs 
the  tones,  which  are  but  a  phenomenon  which  differ- 
entiates this  melody  from  others. 

To  conceive,  therefore,  of  the  real  body  of  any 
Son  of  God  as  being  material  and  as  having  physical 

11  A  homely  illustration  may  serve  to  make  this  clearer: 
The  body  of  an  individual  may  be  likened  to  the  hands  of  a 
clock.  They  do  not  make  themselves  go;  neither  do  they 
make  the  clock's  mainspring  go.  They  merely  serve  to  show 
what  the  hidden  mainspring  is  doing. 


200  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

functions  is  impossible,  and  such  a  seeming  concep- 
tion must  be  false.  To  conceive  it  to  be  the  true, 
the  real,  function  of  the  body  to  give  man  life  and 
strength,  as  is  popularly  supposed,  is  to  ascribe  to 
the  body  a  power  which  it  never  had.  And  to  con- 
ceive of  spiritual  consciousness  as  in  a  material 
body  and  subject  to  it,  is  another  familiar  error 
which  we  are  obliged  to  correct. 

The  coming  to  a  realisation  of  the  true  nature  of 
Man's  body  and  its  relation  to  consciousness  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  work  which  I  have  to  do,  and 
is  the  result  of  my  coming  to  a  knowledge  of  my 
true  self.  Let  us  dwell  a  moment  upon  the  way  in 
which  the  body  of  an  idea  is  made  to  appear. 

SPIRITUAL    PHENOMENON    AND    ITS    APPEARANCE 

The  moment  that  Mind  has  individualised  and 
embodied  an  idea  in  you  or  me,  it  goes  on  to  arouse 
the  individual  consciousness  —  yours  or  mine  —  to 
a  realisation  of  what  these  spiritual  activities  (the 
Idea  and  its  spiritual  phenomenon)  are  which  Mind 
is  carrying  on  in  the  individual  consciousness. 

This  action  of  Mind  results  in  the  seeking,  knock- 
ing, and  finding,  of  the  Idea  on  the  part  of  the  in- 
dividual.    And  when  he  has  so  striven  to  know  an 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       201 

idea, —  a  spiritual  activity  going  on  within  himself, 
a  melody,  for  instance, —  that  he  does  know  it,  then 
the  body  or  spiritual  phenomenon  of  the  Idea  is  also 
revealed  to  the  individual  consciousness.  That  is, 
one  hears  the  melody  being  sung.  He  hears  it  in  his 
consciousness,  and  it  is  not  as  yet  audible  to  those 
about  Him.  Then  Mind  awakens  love  in  men  for 
that  which  they  find  going  on  within  themselves,  and 
they  long  to  make  the  idea  known  to  others  through 
the  appearance  of  that  image  which  is  revealed  to 
them.  In  response  to  this  desire,  Mind  uses  the  in- 
dividual consciousness  as  an  instrument  by  which 
the  real  appearance  which  is  apparent  to  it,  is  made 
to  appear  to  others.  And  the  song  is  then  sung  in 
the  true  voice.  The  same  process  may  be  applied  to 
man  and  will  eventually  lead  to  the  right  understand- 
ing of  his  spiritual  representation  or  true  body.12 

As  this  spiritual  conception  of  Man's  true  form 
and  its  appearance  becomes  clear,  the  seeming  bur- 
den of  my  body  is  lifted;  its  needless  travail  and 

12  When  we  realize  that  the  individual  consciousness  is 
but  an  activity  of  Mind,  we  see  that,  through  all  this  proc- 
ess, it  is  Mind  which  is  acting  as  my  capacity  to  bring  the 
truth  into  objective  being. 

An  Idea  is  in  God.     He  forms  it  in  me,  and  I  mani- 
fest what  He  has  formed  in  me." 


202  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

pain  are  over;  it  carries  no  weight,  neither  does  it 
do  any  work.  It  is  not  with  the  body  that  men  see 
and  hear.     It  does  not  carry  them  about. 

The  body  is  not  the  Thinker;  neither  do  the 
thoughts  of  spiritual  men  depend  upon  its  operations. 
'Tis  a  living  picture  merely,  and  I  demand  of  it 
nothing  more,  yet  its  service  is  great.  Having  no 
strength  of  its  own,  it  yet  images  the  might  of  God; 
having  no  life  to  give,  'tis  yet  a  witness  to  the  gift 
of  Life;  thinking  no  thought  of  its  own,  'tis  the 
picture  of  Truth  itself. 

Sometimes  a  coat  of  mail  it  seemed,  or  again  a 
silken  sheath, —  the  first  a  torment  and  the  last  a 
snare;  but  both  were  figments,  unknown  in  Love's 
domain,  and  I  need  no  longer  dread  lest  fatigue  over- 
take me  in  the  heat  of  the  day,  or  temptation  assail 
me  upon  untried  paths.  Agony  has  spent  itself,  and 
the  fear  of  death  is  passing. 

A  hymn  of  thanksgiving  rises  in  my  heart,  for  as 
the  mantles  of  error  slip  from  me,  I  see  how  heavy 
they  were;  as  the  fetters  of  belief  loosen,  as  the 
chains  of  sense  fall,  I  know  how  great  was  the  bond- 
age by  the  freedom  which  is  mine.  When  the  veil 
of  illusion  is  rent,  all  the  tyranny  of  lies,  all  the  mis- 
rule of  the  flesh,  like  shadows  melt  away ;  and  Love, 


AN  EXPRESSION  OF  TRUTH       203 

the  real  substance,  reigns.  As  the  blood  of  the 
physical  body  is  spilled,  the  wine  of  the  spirit  glows, 
and  Life  everlasting  wells  up  that  all  our  wounds 
may  be  healed. 

And  sometimes  after  a  night  of  darkened  experi- 
ence and  these  truths  come  clearly  to  me,  Love,  the 
thought  of  God,  appears,  and  stands  there  watching 
o'er  the  sleeping  world  lying  in  its  sheepfold,  safe, 
in  sweet  surrender  of  all  other  sense  save  that  of 
the  Shepherd's  presence.  His  radiant  robes  alight 
as  though  fresh  filled  with  new  born  stars,  fallen 
from  the  skies  now  dark  about  Him.  And  a  great 
star  sets  close  upon  his  forehead,  and  lights  the  dark 
place  where  His  sheep  lie,  and  finds  its  way  into  each 
tired  heart.  They  were  so  weary  an  hour  ago,  but 
listen  now,  and  hear  the  myriad  sighs,  like  rested 
wings  in  flight,  that  rise  and  leave  their  looked-for 
message  at  His  feet.  The  earth  is  no  more  wet 
with  tears;  men  sleep,  and  only  know  when  they 
awake  their  dreams  were  sweet.  To  those  in  pain 
an  angel  came  —  so  softly  —  as  though  its  feet  were 
flowers  and  its  substance  light,  and  holding  in  its 
heart  the  key  which  now  unlocks  its  lips,  that  men 
may  hear  the  message :  Love  is  the  substance  found 
by  loving;  know  that  it  is  all,  and  pain  will  cease. 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE  RIGHT  ANSWER 

Our  manifold  and  efficient  charities  attest  to  a 
widespread  sympathy  with  those  in  need,  and  to  a 
recognition  that  such  needs  demand  immediate  re- 
lief. And  after  supplying  food  and  clothing  we 
realise  that  our  ministry  must  go  farther,  since  the 
fundamental  need,  after  all,  of  each  of  us,  is  spirit- 
ual. 

One  hears  occasionally  that  faith  is  all  right  in  its 
place,  but  that  it  will  not  buy  shoes  nor  alter  the 
fact  that  labour  is  at  the  mercy  of  capital;  that  men 
grow  rich  only  at  the  expense  of  their  brothers ;  that 
peace  can  only  be  maintained  by  arms ;  and  that  even 
an  understanding  of  Truth  would  be  powerless  to 
keep  us  from  being  the  victims  of  circumstance, 
heredity,  and  environment.  Such  a  creed  ignores 
a  Heavenly  Father  and  His  Kingdom  of  Spirit. 
Can  one  wonder  that  our  capacity  for  worship  hun- 
gers and  spends  itself  upon  false  gods! 

204 


THE  RIGHT  ANSWER  205 

But  the  fact  that  an  outworn  statement  of  spirit- 
ual Truth  is  found  to  be  inadequate  to  the  ameliora- 
tion of  modern  conditions,  cannot  lead  us  to  infer 
that  spiritual  truth  Itself  is  inadequate;  for  God, 
the  solver  of  all  problems,  is  the  Source  of  that 
Truth.  Truth  is  the  right  and  only  answer  to  all  our 
daily  questions,  and  our  realisation  of  what  this  an- 
swer is,  and  of  its  truth,  is  the  remedy  for  all  so- 
called  evil.  Moreover,  this  remedy  is  within  our 
reach,  for  we,  in  our  real  natures,  are  capacities  for 
being  conscious  of  the  Truth,  under  all  conditions, 
in  every  period  of  our  existence. 

We,  therefore,  are  not  at  the  mercy  of  the  ap- 
parent injustices,  inherent  in  a  seemingly  material 
social  and  industrial  order,  and  need  not  even  seem 
to  be  the  victims  of  any  circumstance  whatsoever; 
for  each  individual  may,  at  any  moment,  make  a 
direct  appeal  to  and  receive  without  delay  the  true 
answer  from  his  Heavenly  Father,  and  through 
obedience  to  it  he  will  bring  to  light  the  ever  opera- 
tive spiritual  Law, —  the  only  law, —  against  which 
no  other  so-called  law  can  militate.  Then  will  his 
life  be  lived  on  the  plane  of  true  ideas.  On  such 
a  plane  the  real  conditions  and  laws  reveal  them- 
selves as  perfect.     Reality  is  perfect.     Our  work, 


206  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

therefore,  consists  not  in  changing  anything,  but  in 
seeing  that  perfection  already  exists  in  God  and  His 
manifestation.  That  is  the  right,  the  one  answer 
to  all  questions.  Through  a  realisation  of  its  truth 
and  presence,  we  express  this  perfection  constantly, 
in  terms  of  daily  life. 

The  calm  faces  we  wear!  Resignation  is  written 
there, —  patience,  the  grace  to  bear  burdens  and 
suffer  loss.  So  read  those  who  are  themselves  pa- 
tient and  resigned.  Rather  is  slavery  written  there, 
obedience  to  wrong  ideals,  and,  too  often,  the  sloth 
of  thoughtlessness,  the  stupor  of  ignorance. 

The  Sons  of  God,  patient  under  unjust  burdens; 
the  brothers  of  Christ,  resigned  and  tolerant  under 
the  feet  of  triumphant  evil,1  complacent  in  the  midst 
of  mediocre  surroundings  and  achievements,  ready 
with  excuses  in  the  face  of  failure  and  mistake ! 
Where  is  our  self  reliance,  our  courage;  where  the 
insight  which  keeps  us  from  building  upon  the  quick- 
sands of  illusion?  Why  have  we  ceased  to  make  the 
high  endeavour,  the  sincere  struggle  that  will  not 
brook  defeat  or  bear  unquestioningly  an  unjust  act. 
How  have  we  buried  the  sense  of  our  high  birth- 

1  Did  not  Christ  teach  the  true  meaning  of  resignation  to 
be  obedience  only  to  the  will  of  God,  Good? 


THE  RIGHT  ANSWER  207 

right  with  its  rightful  claims  to  power?  With  sin. 
A  wrong  conception  it  is  which  writes  submission 
on  our  faces,  stains  the  tablets  of  our  hearts,  and 
blots  all  out  of  recognition  our  divine  rights,  written 
there  by  our  own  Heavenly  Father. 

But  to  all  of  us  who  have  not  realised  our  true 
selfhood  the  birth  of  Fear  will  come,  and  there  will 
be  a  moment  when  we  shall  know  that  we  are  afraid. 
Such  moments,  as  compared  with  those  of  sin  and 
ignorance,  might  be  regarded  as  occasions  for  joy 
did  we  but  face  our  fear,  ferret  out  its  cause,  and 
then,  as  a  result,  should  seek  for  release,  and  find 
ourselves  on  the  threshold  of  a  new  understanding. 
This  understanding,  revealing  evil  as  an  illusion,  a 
false  sense  of  things,  teaches  us  to  deny  its  reality 
and  thus  we  break  its  seeming  power  and  open  the 
doors  into  fearlessness  and  peace. 

Hitherto  we  have  been  asleep,  unseeing.  Fear 
and  sorrow  make  things  shake  about  us,  rouse  our 
"drowsy  blood,"  take  the  scales  from  our  eyes; 
and  nothing  now  can  soothe  us  back  again  into  the 
old  feeling  that  some  way  everything  is  coming  out 
all  right. 

When  this  fear  and  sorrow  come,  with  their 
awakening  to  a  seeming  power  other  than  good,  we 


208  THE  PRACTICAL  MYSTIC 

may  sink  back  among  those  resigned  and  so-called 
patient  ones  of  whom  we  have  spoken,  and  with 
them  bow  down  before  an  unknown  master,  bribe 
him  with  gifts,  pay  tribute  to  him,  obey  his  demands 
unquestioningly,  be  good  slaves, —  forgetting  that  we 
are  the  Sons  and  Daughters  of  a  King! 

But  there  are  those  who  do  not  forget,  and  in  the 
face  of  fear  and  sorrow  will  rebel,  and  will  ques- 
tion wherein,  within  themselves,  they  have  failed. 

How  we  love  them, —  those  who,  when  evil 
comes,  defy  it,  search  for  more  truth,  and  thus  re- 
veal a  great,  unshaken  trust  in  good.  We  cannot 
bear  to  have  them  suffer. 

We  answer  life's  questions  primarily  for  those  we 
love.  This  fills  us  with  a  passionate  longing  to  find 
the  right  answer.  When  a  woman  remembers  her 
motherhood,  what  will  she  not  sacrifice  that  the 
fountain  at  which  her  children  must  drink  shall  be 
of  the  waters  of  Truth.  What  will  she  not  endure 
that  she,  too,  may  win  a  "  Blessed  Spear  "  for  the 
healing  of  their  wounds;  may  make  the  "mystic 
cup  "  glow  red  and  bring  to  those  whom  God  has 
given  her,  all  the  blessings  of  the  Holy  Grail,  for 
lack  of  which  they  perish. 

"  Our  Soul's  east  window  has  had  its  divine  sur- 


THE  RIGHT  ANSWER  209 

prise. "  Let  us,  therefore,  cease  to  be  lip  loyal  to 
what  once  seemed  truth.  Our  new-risen  star  shows 
us  a  new  way.  It  makes  "  air  and  dream  of  all  we 
see  and  feel."  It  teaches  us  to  overcome,  and  we 
eat  of  the  tree  of  life  and  the  hidden  manna.  We 
shall  be  given  a  new  name,  shall  be  clothed  in  white 
raiment,  and  be  made  pillars  in  the  temple  of  our 
God.  God  dwells  with  us.  He  is  wiping  away  all 
tears  from  our  eyes;  "  and  there  shall  be  no  more 
death,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there 
be  any  more  pain;  "  for  the  former  things  are  pass- 
ing away;  —  all  things  are  becoming  new.  We  are 
given  of  the  water  of  life  freely;  we  inherit  all 
things;  God  is  all  and  He  is  ours.  We  are  in  the 
realm  of  the  Spirit  and  the  real  is  appearing  in  the 
measure  of  our  realisation  that  we  are  Spiritual. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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